With household bills soaring and inflation rates going through the roof, we’re heading towards a cost of living crisis - but Downing Street is paralysed by one self-inflicted scandal after another. We have a government in office, but not in control.
At the latest full meeting of Durham County Council, held on Wednesday 26 January at Spennymoor Leisure Centre, I tabled a motion on behalf of the Labour Group calling on the government to rise above its self-inflicted chaos in Downing Street and get a grip on the cost of living crisis looming on the horizon - and for the first time since the Tory-led coalition took control of the council last May we managed to persuade a clear majority of council members to back our proposal.
In addition to passing my proposal, we also secured sufficient votes to pass a second proposal calling on the government to provide air purifiers in all schools to protect staff and children. Although we have yet to see the listed vote, at first glance it appears this support came from independent councillors who have enough about them to realise that a Tory-led coalition is never going to work out well for the residents of County Durham.
In passing two resolutions, one of them against a Tory amendment, we’ve broken the grip of the coalition - and that's a significant step forward just eight months after they took office last year. They know now for certain that their majority isn’t necessarily sufficient to guarantee the votes they need to pass their policy programme - when they eventually get round to agreeing one.
The first cracks in the coalition's vulnerable majority are showing, but we won't be complacent. We'll continue to hold the coalition to account at every opportunity and we’ll also continue to test their resolve by producing relevant, well-considered proposals that will protect the people of County Durham against the worst excesses of this dreadful Tory government and their acolytes in Durham’s Tory-led coalition.
I’ll report back on any further developments at county hall, but in the meantime I’ve reproduced a transcript of the notes I used when introducing my motion to full council:
Cost of Living: Motion to DCC - Wednesday 26 January 2022:
Proposer: Cllr Rob Crute
Seconder: Cllr Angela Surtees
Motion: During 2022 a number of factors combined will present a significant additional financial burden to the people of County Durham.
This council recognises that the people of County Durham are heading towards a ‘cost of living’ crisis and calls on the government to take immediate measures to mitigate the impact.
Introduction (RC): This coming springtime, if they’re not addressed beforehand, a number of factors combined are going to lead to the hardest squeeze on household budgets in a generation, leading to a cost of living crisis for ordinary working people and families in County Durham and across the UK.
According to the Office for National Statistics the value of wages in real terms is falling and people are about to be hit with a tax rise in the shape of increased National Insurance Contributions to pay for the government’s social care levy.
At the same time energy bills are about to thud onto our doormats, and these will be grossly inflated by energy price cap changes that will increase energy bills by as much as 50% and which will almost certainly increase the number of households in fuel poverty from 4m to 6m.
In addition, Universal Credit claimants will continue to struggle to make ends meet as the government’s decision last year to remove the £20 a week uplift will continue to eat away at household budgets. And, as if this wasn’t enough, in the next few weeks the rate of inflation is set to soar to its highest level in almost 30 years.
As a result, the Resolution Foundation has estimated that, when all these factors come together, household costs will increase by an eye-watering £1,200 a year for each family.
This all follows hard on the heels of 12 years of government austerity that has weakened our public services – including removing over £250 million of grants and funding from Durham County Council alone.
In the context of this additional hardship looming on the horizon, the people of County Durham are heading for a potentially catastrophic cost-of-living crisis, with many struggling families abandoned to the harsh choice of either ‘heating or eating’ – the almost impossible quandary of whether they should heat their homes or put food on the table – and all this in the 21st Century, in the fifth richest nation on earth.
So in the hope of preventing this potential calamity, we call on the government to put in place all measures necessary to mitigate the impact of this crisis on the people of County Durham and beyond.
The list I have here isn’t intended to be exhaustive, but as an absolute minimum the government must take measures now to:
- freeze the energy price cap to hold down energy bills and limit the risk of deepening an already entrenched fuel poverty crisis
- scrap the tax rises scheduled to hit pay packets from April
- make arrangements for council tax rebates for those who need them most
- increase benefit payments from the 3.1% planned to 6% to help the hardest hit households and finally
- introduce a windfall tax on profit-rich North Sea oil and gas companies - and in addition, for the longer-term, we urge the government to plan ahead now to wean customers off expensive and environmentally harmful fossil fuels by putting more funding into clean energy and home insulation projects
On behalf of the Labour Group I’m offering a way out of this mess, the rest is up to coalition members this morning to support this motion and call on the government to finally get its act together, put its own self-inflicted crises and chaos to one side and for once try to focus its energies on delivering a decent standard of living for our residents and do whatever is needed to alleviate the financial burden of this impending cost-of-living crisis.
We simply can’t go on like this. We have a government in office, but not in control. A government paralysed by chaos and crisis, unable to fulfil even the most basic of its responsibilities. If they can’t deliver for the people in response to a largely self-made crisis they should stand aside for someone who can.
In the meantime we’ll continue to put the interests of working people and hard-pressed families in County Durham first and foremost – every time. I urge every member in the room this morning to reject any amendment tabled and support the motion in its original form.
My colleague Angela Surtees (Easington, Labour) issued the following statement in support:
Poverty blights people’s lives in many ways. It can deny them opportunity; it can affect their health and mental health; and it can isolate them from society. Too many people in our county and wider north east suffer from poverty, child poverty currently standing at 25.8% in our county of which 16.8% are in working families. Child poverty being inclusive of a range of other poverties including fuel, food, housing, health inequality and the list goes on.
You only have to look at the stats on the Poverty Dashboard on Durham Insight. It is shameful that in one of the richest countries in the world, we have children going hungry and sleeping in their clothes because their family can’t afford to put the heating on. The Government may blame the pandemic but the fault lies at their door; the government’s brutal austerity programme and welfare reforms brought communities to their knees even before the pandemic hit.
We are a council who stands at 48th most deprived in the Country with 16 neighbourhoods classed as left behind in a recent report. We are a council who for the last 10 year has done everything possible to limit the impact of austerity on local communities. The cost of living crisis will exacerbate these poverties but also be reminded that ALL families in County Durham will be affected.
Welfare Assistance Scheme (WAS) applications have risen 52% in the last seven weeks and doesn’t take a genius to work out some of the causes. Our community partnerships, VCS and support organisations are already seeing impacts of the cost of living crisis is having now so its only direction will be worse when NI will be increased for example: lower paid families will be unequally affected .. I want to put on record my appreciation to all the community and voluntary sector organisations and the housing providers who work with us mitigate the effects of poverty in our county.
We need government to recognise that people are at the forefront of our communities they drive economic prosperity and need government to acknowledge that support to reflect the reality of life for everyone in all communities.
This Council’s Equality & Diversity Policy forms part of the appendices of the Council Plan, it is a policy that often goes un-noticed however forms a huge part of the councils day to day activities and is at the heart of the Council’s vision and core values. We recognise that people can face barriers and inequality affects different people and communities in different ways. Our E & D policy is to treat people fairly and with dignity and respect.
Durham Labour will always be on the frontline lobbying for - and helping - those who have been let down by the government or who need help and assistance. I’m calling on this council - all Councillors regardless of political persuasion to support this motion and ultimately fight for what’s right for the people of County Durham.
Follow this link for a full report in the Northern Echo:
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/19878830.durham-councillor-halt-cost-of-living-calamity/
