WESTMINSTER DIARY – Bromsgrove MP Bradley Thomas writes for the Standard.
IT FEELS like you cannot catch a break right now.
Bills keep going up, eating away more at the money in your pocket, leaving you with less to treat you and your family and less to save for a rainy day.
The cost of living remains too high, despite the many promises the current government made before the election to make life more affordable.
Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves claim they care about the cost of living, but they are hammering families with new taxes and rising charges and businesses with new regulations and red tape.
This government has done nothing but make life harder for working families in Bromsgrove and the small businesses that power our local economy and our country. Instead, this government has chosen to hand out more and more to those on benefits.
Figures show, under this government, families will be £913 worse off this year.
Council tax is up, water bills are up, Vehicle Excise Duty is up, the TV licence is up, rent is up, broadband bills are up, mobile contracts are up and the cost of groceries, recreation and culture, clothing and household goods and services are all up too.
And because of this Government’s choices, the cost of energy is rising too.
Cornwall Insight has forecast the Default Tariff Cap will be £1,929 for July to September 2026, a £288 increase from the price cap of April to June 2026 of £1,641.
For the average car, the cost of fuelling it will rise from £1,285 to £1,365.
That’s why, in Parliament, I’ve voted time and time again to support working people in Bromsgrove.
I’ve voted for the following – to cut energy bills by £200 a year with the Cheap Power Plan, against the Government’s planned Fuel Duty increase, to stop the Government from working with the new administration on Worcestershire County Council to put your council tax up by nine per cent, to abolish real interest rates on Plan 2 Students, to abolish Stamp Duty on the family home, to allow for maximum extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea to use the extra tax revenue to cut taxes and to ease the cost of living, and to reverse the
Family Farm Tax which will make British food more expensive.
The Government voted all this down, which is why your bills and taxes continue to rise.
I will continue to work hard to support working people and to ensure life is more affordable.
