Responding to the budget announcement, Emma said, “This is a Budget that confirms people are worse off under the Tories. Since this government came to power living standards have fallen year after year and families are £1,600 a year poorer than they were in 2010.“Today the Chancellor simply reminded people of the gap between his hollow rhetoric and reality. Living standards have fallen for 44 out of 45 months under this government, 1 million more people are paying the 40p tax rate, 350,000 people are going to food banks and 400,000 disabled people are paying the Bedroom Tax. Furthermore, in Wolverhampton the number of young people unemployed for more than a year has more than doubled between January 2010 and January 2014.

“That is a record of failure unmatched since records began and no amount of smoke and mirrors today can hide it.

“We needed a Budget today that would deal with the cost of living crisis facing hardworking families in Wolverhampton. Unfortunately, time and again this government shows that it stands up for the wrong people. While this Chancellor cuts taxes for millionaires, he has made ordinary people worse off by raising VAT and cutting tax credits for over four and a half million families. We need a government which can make the long-term changes our economy needs in housing, banking and energy to help ordinary hardworking people.

“That is why a Labour government will freeze energy bills, guarantee jobs for unemployed young people, cut business rates, reform the banks, get 200,000 homes built a year and abolish the Bedroom Tax.”

March 2014