At the weekend we were warned of an £18 billion black hole in the economy with little hope of a silver lining. The deficit still exists, the national debt is rising, productivity is slowing and, meanwhile, lower income individuals and families have been disproportionately affected by past budgets.
This week, The Trussell Trust said that a compassionate budget needs to work for everyone. There was welcome news for young people on low pay, who will benefit from a larger than expected minimum wage rise but foodbanks are currently reporting rises in people referred with no money to eat due to seven week delays in Universal Credit payments. We are also still seeing too many examples of people unable to afford to eat due to unfair or excessive benefit sanctions.
During Budget 2016, we were told that we must act now to ensure we do not pay later but there is still a national debt that is rising by £1.4 billion per week. We were told this is a budget that puts the next generation first, but child poverty levels remain at uncomfortably high levels. The Government is now presiding over better economic times than we saw in the last parliament but we’re still hoping for this to filter through to many who end up needing help from charities like The Trussell Trust.
Talk of prioritising economic stability, the existence of fiscal windfalls, supporting working people, delivering on social justice and the benefit of economically broad shoulders sound like unfamiliar concepts to the men, women and children behind the one million referrals to Trussell Trust foodbanks in the United Kingdom over the last financial year. Only time will tell us if Budget 2016 put stability first and who will reap the benefits.
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