Agenda item

Cost of Living Emergency Declaration

 

This Council declares we are in a Cost of Living Emergency and calls on the Government to introduce an Emergency Budget, to take urgent action to protect the people of Exeter from further harm.

 

Council notes that:

 

·         Energy costs have more than doubled since October 2021, from a unit cap of £1277 to £2500 currently for average households. Before this hike there were more than 6000 households in fuel poverty in Exeter.

·         Food prices are soaring, some basic staples by as much as 20%.

·         Inflation has soared above 10%, its highest level in 40 years.

·         Personal Taxation is now at its highest level in 70 years yet public services continue to face a funding crisis.

·         The real value of pay is falling at its fastest rate since records began.

·         Universal credit has been slashed and there appears to be no prospect of an appropriate uprating of welfare payments for those most in need. Current proposals will see families, and others, plunged further in to hardship as they fail to keep pace with rising costs.

·         In 2020/21 more than 4,000 children in Exeter lived in poverty.

·         Meanwhile £11.8bn of public money has been lost to fraud through the Governments covid support schemes

 

Council therefore resolves to write to the Prime Minister, copying in our Exeter MP’s, urging her to:

 

·         Introduce an immediate Emergency Budget to protect children, families, and pensioners from the worst fall in living standards in generations.

·         Cut business rates for small businesses.

·         Cut the VAT rate on energy bills.

·         Increase the support available to all claimants through the welfare and benefits system.

·         Deliver on the calls made by UNISON, the NEU and other education unions to expand the free school meals programme to all families receiving universal credit or an equivalent benefit.

 

The Council believes that the Emergency Budget must include real help for residents and local businesses in Exeter.

 

 

Councillor Pearce, seconded by Councillor Morse, moved a Notice of Motion in the following terms:-

 

“Cost of Living Emergency Declaration

 

This Council declares we are in a Cost of Living Emergency and calls on the Government to introduce an Emergency Budget, to take urgent action to protect the people of Exeter from further harm.

 

Council notes that:

 

·         Energy costs have more than doubled since October 2021, from a unit cap of £1,277 to £2,500 currently for average households. Before this hike there were more than 6,000 households in fuel poverty in Exeter.

·         Food prices are soaring, some basic staples by as much as 20%.

·         Inflation has soared above 10%, its highest level in 40 years.

·         Personal Taxation is now at its highest level in 70 years, yet public services continue to face a funding crisis.

·         The real value of pay is falling at its fastest rate since records began.

·         Universal Credit has been slashed and there appears to be no prospect of an appropriate uprating of welfare payments for those most in need. Current proposals will see families, and others, plunged further in to hardship as they fail to keep pace with rising costs.

·         In 2020/21 more than 4,000 children in Exeter lived in poverty.

·         Meanwhile, £11.8 billion of public money has been lost to fraud through the Government’s Covid support schemes.

 

Council therefore resolves to write to the Prime Minister, copying in our Exeter MP’s, urging her to:

 

·         Introduce an immediate Emergency Budget to protect children, families, and pensioners from the worst fall in living standards in generations.

·         Cut business rates for small businesses.

·         Cut the VAT rate on energy bills.

·         Increase the support available to all claimants through the welfare and benefits system.

·         Deliver on the calls made by UNISON, the National Education Union (NEU) and other education unions to expand the free school meals programme to all families receiving Universal Credit or an equivalent benefit.

 

The Council believes that the Emergency Budget must include real help for residents and local businesses in Exeter.”

 

Councillor D. Moore moved and Councillor K. Mitchell seconded the following amendments:-

 

·         Restore the £20 uplift to Universal Credit and double this uplift to £40 per week.

·         At the end of the sentence “Increase the support available to all claimants through the welfare and benefits system”, add “in line with inflation”.

·         Continue to support families and businesses after 23 April 2023 in regard to any increased energy costs.

 

Councillors Pearce and Morse accepted the amendment, subject to the addition of the words “at least” between “to” and “£40” in the first bullet point above and the insertion of the word “price” before “inflation” at the end of the second bullet point.

 

Councillor D. Moore accepted the addition of these words. The motion, as amended, became the substantive motion as follows:-

 

·           Introduce an immediate Emergency Budget to protect children, families, and pensioners from the worst fall in living standards in generations.

·           Cut business rates for small businesses.

·           Cut the VAT rate on energy bills.

·           Increase the support available to all claimants through the welfare and benefits system in line with price inflation.

·           Deliver on the calls made by UNISON, the National Education Union (NEU) and other education unions to expand the free school meals programme to all families receiving universal credit or an equivalent benefit.

·           Restore the £20 uplift to Universal Credit and double this uplift to at least £40 per week.

·           Continue to support families and businesses after 23 April 2023 in regard to any increased energy costs.

 

Members made the following comments:-

 

·         the work of the Exeter Food Bank reflected the seriousness of the cost of living crisis, the demand having increased by 130% over the last month and a number of harrowing personal testimonies had been received underlining the hardships many were facing; and

·         the Government had failed to respond to a United Nations report in 2018 which had highlighted that the UK was failing in its Human Rights obligations and which recommended a number of measures to address poverty in the UK.

 

Councillor Jobson, as the leader of an opposition group, made the following comments, stating that she would not be supporting the Motion:-

 

·         the current Government stance to combat the rise in inflation should be welcomed, particularly in light of the recent impact of the Covid Pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The control of inflation is necessary as continuing increases will impact adversely on children, families and pensioners and lead to increased interest rates;

·         although it was necessary to borrow during the Pandemic, the cost of borrowing has to be paid for;

·         a previous Government ultimately recognised that it was not possible to combat a recession and increase employment by increasing taxes and spending; and

·         an uplift in Universal Credit in line with inflation would be welcome and it is hoped the Chancellor would include this in his statement on the Medium Term Fiscal Plan at the end of the month.

 

Members made the following comments:-

 

·         a previous Government had responded to the economic downturn caused by sub prime mortgages in the United States by investing in schools, hospitals and public services. In contrast, the current Government seeks to continue with the previous 12 years of austerity which has undermined and ravaged public services. More austerity is not the answer, and further cuts will impact elsewhere in the economy such as the health sector;

·         trickle-down economics does not work, whereas a mixed economy with increased investment in public services will ultimately also benefit the private sector;

·         the recent mini Budget sought unfunded tax cuts with a disastrous impact on household mortgages and business costs;

·         would advocate all children in primary and secondary schools receiving free school meals, as in Scotland and Wales;

·         rather than wait a further two years, a General Election should be called;

·         the Government has imposed suffering on the country - on householders, pensioners and those on benefits and on businesses with the rise in energy costs;

·         the system has broken down when 40% of those on universal benefit are in full time employment;

·         the Motion puts forward reasonable suggestions and solutions but it will only be a start; and

·         the city and the Council can help those affected by encouraging a circular economy and further progress its energy saving measures through its retrofit and Passivhaus programmes.

 

Councillor Morse, in seconding the Motion, made the following comments:-

 

·         the Institute for Government confirms that the poor will feel the greatest impact of the cost of living crisis forcing difficult choices between heating or adequately feeding their families, whilst the World Health Organisation points to increased deaths during cold winters as a result of increased energy costs;

·         there will be a knock on effect on the already overstretched Health Service and the impact of outside factors such as the increased cost of bulk foods from overseas can not be ignored;

·         other factors include 15 tax increases by a current, low cost Government, benefit freezes reducing income, a mini Budget causing increased mortgage and business costs and increased wholesale food prices following Brexit.

 

Councillor Pearce, in concluding, made the following points:-

 

·         the motion was an emergency declaration following on from two previous motions on the Climate and Ecological emergencies, but those reflected global problems, whereas the cost of living crisis had been caused by the UK Government;

·         the measures proposed at the mini Budget, such as the lifting of caps on bankers’ bonuses and reducing income tax had all been unfunded;

·         a demand led intervention is recommended as the way forward and has been the Council policy for a number of years and the greatest saving for individuals is to protect households from increased costs, such as energy, which has doubled in the last 12 months;

·         increased mortgage costs have resulted in the loss of homes as re-mortgaging cannot be afforded and those landlords with mortgages pass on their costs by increasing rental levels;

·         the impact in Exeter is exacerbated by its low incomes and higher housing costs; and

·         the current Secretary of State’s stated aspiration was that GP’s should be seen within two weeks, whereas a previous Secretary of State’s aspirations had been two days. 

 

Councillor Pearce commended the Motion, as amended, to Council.

 

The Notice of Motion, as amended, was put to the vote and CARRIED.