Johnson 'Bereft Of Ideas' To Solve The Cost Of Living Crisis

Boris Johnson has been accused of abandoning British families to a life of poverty, after his legislative programme for the coming year contained no new measures to deal with the cost of living crisis.

- Andrew Woodcock

One think tank described the package set out in the Queen's Speech as "cosmetic surgery for an economy facing a heart attack”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also denounced it as "a thin address, bereft of ideas or purpose” delivered by a government “whose time has passed”. Mr Johnson told MPs that measures including a Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill to enable councils to boost renewal of run-down towns and a Brexit Freedoms Bill empowering ministers to scrap remaining EU rules would help get Britain “back on track” after the Covid pandemic.

But he continued to reject demands for an emergency budget to help households who are being forced to choose between heating and eating. He also gave a strong signal that he has lined up with chancellor Rishi Sunak in resisting further financial support before the autumn budget, telling MPs: “However great our compassion and ingenuity, we cannot simply spend our way out of this problem.”

Any help for households beyond the £22bn already announced would have to be balanced against the need to keep public finances “on a sustainable footing”, he warned. Meanwhile, the Treasury was quick to scotch any suggestion of an imminent extension of support, saying that further fiscal measures would have to wait until after the next review of the energy price cap in September.

Senior ministers, including the PM and Mr Sunak, were assessing proposals from cabinet colleagues last night for money-saving measures that can be achieved without cost to the government, such as doubling the gap between MOT tests or increasing the ratio of children to carers in pre-school nurseries. Mr Johnson said the outcome would be announced in the coming days.