Wayne David, Labour MP for Caerphilly, has highlighted the lack of measures announced in this week’s Spring Budget to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and low pay.

Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative Chancellor, had plenty of opportunities to offer support to the most vulnerable – in fact, he had more money than he was expecting.

However, the big announcement in the Budget was to give the top 1% of earners tax relief on their pensions – rather than offering public sector workers the pay increases that they deserve. Meanwhile those on Universal Credit will be forced to find work or have their benefits cut.

This tax break will only benefit the 8,600 workers in the UK who are rich enough to save £1 million into their pension before they are taxed. It is another example of the Tories continuing to favour those who are well-off, rather than ordinary people.

Some of the Chancellor’s brightest ideas are based on Labour policies. Whether it’s the windfall tax on oil and gas producers last year, the plan to cap energy bills to prevent extortionate electricity and gas costs, or the recent scrapping of high charges penalising those on pre-payment meters – Labour has been calling for these well before the Conservatives have caught up.

Wayne David MP said “This is a budget that gives little to ordinary people. The scrapping of the lifetime allowance on pension contributions will mean nothing to people in Caerphilly. In fact, I don’t know anyone in my constituency who is rich enough to benefit from the lifting of the pension cap. What was needed was a budget which helped the ‘many’ and not the ‘few’.”