Westminster Despatches

Dear Resident,

As you will know, today is Budget Day! The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt announced his Budget which was focused on delivering on the Prime Minister’s priorities of halving inflation, growing the economy and reducing debit. I want to provide you with an overview of how the measures in the Budget will benefit you.

In order to ease the impacts of rising prices, the Chancellor announced a package worth £94 billion to help families across the country and Erewash. The Government will continue to support households and businesses by maintaining the rates of fuel duty at the current levels for an additional 12 months through extending the temporary 5p fuel duty cut and cancelling the planned increase in line with inflation for 2023-24. This will save the average car driver around £200. 

I am also pleased that the Chancellor has decided to extend the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) for a further three months. The EPG, which has been protecting households across the country by capping typical energy bills at £2,500, will be extended for a further three months over April, May and June, worth £160 per household over the three months. These measures show that the Government is committed to helping households with rising energy and fuel costs.

The UK has some of the highest childcare costs in the world and I know that this is a particularly important issue for Erewash residents. From 2025, the Government is introducing 30 free hours of childcare per week for children from nine months to four years old, worth £6,500 per year per child. This will support families with childcare costs and will enable parents to take up the opportunity to work.  

Staying on the education theme, the Chancellor also outlined that he is increasing the hourly rates paid to providers for free childcare. The Government will pay £204 million next year, increasing to £288 million by 2024-25 in order to support the sector to meet rising costs and facilitate the expansion of new free hours and improved quality provision. A grant worth £600 for childminders who sign up to the profession and rising to £1,200 for those who join through an agency was also announced. These measures show that the Government is serious about tackling rising childcare costs and wants to get more people in to work.

In order to encourage more people back in to work, such as those aged over 50, the Government is increasing the amount of tax relief on pensions. The Lifetime Allowance charge will be removed from April 2023 before the Allowance is abolished entirely from April 2024, and the Annual Allowance will be raised to £60,000. These reforms will help ensure that highly skilled individuals such as NHS clinicians are not disincentivised from remaining in the workforce.

I know many readers enjoy visiting the local pubs around Erewash. From August 1, the Government is increasing Draught Relief which will freeze the duty charged on a typical pint of beer in the pub and ensure this will always be lower than in the supermarket. This will encourage more of you to spend money and support your local.

For readers that are active and enjoy swimming, the Budget has something for you! The Government will provide over £60 million of support for public swimming pools across England, and I am sure West Park and Victoria swimming baths will be beneficiaries. The funding will be targeted to address the immediate cost pressures facing public swimming pool providers, as well as providing investment in energy efficiency measures to reform facilities, reduce future operating costs and deliver long-term sustainability. This is great news, as staying active keeps us healthy and takes pressure off the NHS.

The Budget helps deliver on the Government’s priorities to halve inflation, grow the economy and reduce debt so we can create better paid jobs and opportunities across the Erewash as well as the rest of the UK. This is great news for the residents of Erewash and shows that the Conservatives are the party of economic growth and opportunities. 

With best wishes,

Maggie Throup MP
Member of Parliament for Erewash

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