In his latest Reporter column, the Shadow Business Secretary reacts to Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Spring Statement in the House of Commons.

Last week, the Chancellor shared his Spring Statement with Parliament. 

Rishi Sunak’s Parliamentary appearances are a bit like the Northern Lights, rare and fleeting, given he has a tendency to hide whenever the going gets tough for the Conservatives.

Last week, the nation’s eyes were on him. Energy bills are exploding for many families and businesses. Inflation is at the highest rate in 30 years and we can feel it in our supermarket receipts. 

My last tank of petrol cost an eye watering £97. People are already making tough choices about household spending, are anxious about what lies ahead economically, and were not impressed by Rishi’s apparent disregard to their concerns.

The Chancellor’s main concession was to reduce petrol tax by five pence a litre, which given the rollercoaster escalation of petrol prices, took us back no further than to where prices were a fortnight ago, if the VAT cut was seen at the pumps at all. Sunak - thought to be the richest MP in Parliament - then trotted down to Sainsbury’s to fill up a stranger’s Kia for a photo opp, none of his own four cars apparently having been deemed suitably down to earth.

I don’t like accusing fellow MPs of being out of touch, because by and large I find my colleagues on all benches live normally and are genuinely motivated to improve lives in their communities, but it does feel like this is a Chancellor who struggles to relate authentically to what people are going through.

This is also demonstrated by his ploughing ahead with the imminent National Insurance hike.

Sunak slightly raised the floor of who will pay, but the majority of workers will still be hit by higher taxes just as their gas bills double. 

This government has made working people take the strain from the pandemic. By the end of this Parliament, seven out of eight working people will be paying more taxes, just as the cost of living disseminates disposable income.

But the biggest failing in the Spring Statement was the missed poor for a windfall tax on North Sea Oil. Labour’s proposal for a one-off tax on oil companies currently raking it in would reduce gas and electric bills for everyone. The Chief Executive of BP said his company is ‘like a cash machine’ right now, while UK households pay the price. That doesn’t feel very British to me.

This government had a chance to throw some lifelines as times get tough. I’m deeply disappointed that they chose not to.

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