Rishi Sunak is urged to spring into action in the face of out-of-control inflation

Rishi Sunak will unveil his Spring Statement later today, promising “security” to families in the face of the cost-of-living crisis. The Chancellor is expected to announce a cut in fuel duty of at least 5p per litre and a Treasury press release on Tuesday promised “further plans” to help households with rising costs. But it is unlikely his announcement will go far enough to please dissenting voices within his own party, let alone those from the opposition benches. He is facing calls to either defer or cancel the planned National Insurance contributions (NICs) hike, uprate benefits and provide support to energy-intensive businesses.

Labour is calling on Sunak to scrap the NICs increase and has criticised the Tories for more than a decade of stifling growth. “It is because the Conservatives are the party of low growth, that they are now the party of high tax,” Labour’s Pat McFadden said. The opposition party has also pointed out that Sunak – despite claims that he and Boris Johnson are “tax-cutting Conservatives” – has raised more tax than any other Chancellor over the past half a century, having handed down 15 tax rises on households and businesses over the past two years alone.

Today’s Spring Statement comes at an especially critical time. People across the country are hoping for some significant action to be announced by the Chancellor as they stare down the barrel of tax rises in April coupled with rapidly escalating price rises. The Office for National Statistics released February’s inflation figures this morning, showing that the consumer price index (CPI) rose from 5.5% in January to 6.2% – a 30-year high and a much faster rise than had been expected.

Every day seems to bring fresh calls for help with rocketing household costs. A petition launched by Labour backbencher Richard Burgon, urging Sunak to ditch the NICs rise and instead replace it with a wealth tax, had gained 60,076 signatures at the time of writing this email. But the Chancellor has been reluctant to move beyond anything already committed. Doing so goes against his ideological instincts, and for that reason there is a good chance we will be disappointed with a damp squib of a Spring Statement delivered in the face of out-of-control inflation.