THE Chancellor was met with cries of “is that it” when he announced measures which have been deemed inadequate to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

Rishi Sunak delivered his Spring Statement on Wednesday afternoon and announced a raft of new measures, including a cut to fuel duty, tax relief on solar panels and doubling the Household Support Fund for councils.

His announcements were met with jeers and he was accused by the Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves of failing to “understand the scale of the challenge”.

READ MORE: Kate Forbes accuses Rishi Sunak of failing to help households

Sunak further announced that the basic rate of income tax would be cut from 19 to 20 pence in the pound in 2024 while committing to the widely criticised increase in the rate of National Insurance.

He said it was a “mission of Tory chancellors” to reduce taxes and announced the threshold for paying National Insurance would be raised by £3000 to £12,570 in a move that its claimed will affect around 90 million across the UK.

Some 70% of people will have their taxes cut by raising the threshold, Sunak said.

In his March mini-budget, he also announced plans to slash business rates for shops and pubs by 50%.

Fuel duty will be cut by five pence per litre from 6pm on Wednesday night, it was announced. 

The SNP's Shadow Chancellor said the statement was "superficial" and failed to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson laughs and pulls faces as Rishi Sunak speaks of Ukraine war

Alison Thewliss said households need a "good deal more help" than the measures announced on Wednesday. 

She accused Sunak of increasing taxes "more in two years than [former Labour Chancellor] Gordon Brown did in ten".

"There is nothing in this statement for Scotland," Thewliss added. 

Measures to remove VAT from green products such as solar panels and heat pumps were deemed as unlikely to help the country's poorest households by the Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis. 

He tweeted: "If that's all he's doing on energy - it is limited and won't impact the majority of households who will see a likely £1,300 average increase in year-on-year bills by October."

Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, responded to the Spring Statement by saying: "Oh for goodness’ sake.

"What is the possible justification for cutting income tax rate while raising [National Insurance] rate?

"Drives further wedge between taxation of unearned income and earned income. Yet again benefits pensioners and those living off rents at expense of workers."

READ MORE: Ian Blackford urges Boris Johnson to tackle 'Tory poverty pandemic'

Kirsty Blackman, the SNP MP for Aberdeen North, said the move would be "cold comfort to folk how cannot afford to eat". 

It comes as inflation reached its highest level in 30 years, totalling 6.2% in February and the growth forecast in GDP – a key measure of the state of the economy – was downgraded to just 3.8%.

Prices are set to soar by 7.4% this year, said Sunak as he tried to make the case for economic caution in the Commons.

He said the UK’s actions against Vladimir Putin’s regime in response to the invasion of Ukraine are “not cost-free for us at home” and present a “risk” to the recovery.

Sunak said “it is too early to know the full impact of the Ukraine war on the UK economy” but the OBR acknowledged there was “unusually high uncertainty” around the economic outlook.

The Chancellor told MPs Britain “should be prepared for the economy and public finances to worsen – potentially significantly” as a result of the war.

Warning against increased borrowing, Sunak pointed out that a record £83 billion on debt interest alone was forecast to be spent in the next financial year.