'Tough decisions' will help country bounce back, insist West Midlands Tory MPs

In his autumn statement Jeremy Hunt outlined tax rises and spending cuts as part of Government plans to balance the books in the face of soaring inflation.

MPs from across the region have given their response, with Tories hailing more support for pensioners, schools and the NHS, while Labour claimed the Chancellor had been forced to "overcompensate" for the mistakes of last month's mini-budget.

Nicola Richards, Conservative MP for West Bromwich East, said: "This is a plan that takes tough decisions to ensure we can see off the challenges posed by inflation, the economic impact of Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, more quickly than predicted.

"It protects those on the lowest income, invests an extra £11 billion in the NHS and Education, as well as it giving us a stable footing to continue our levelling up program which has benefitted and will continue to benefit West Bromwich East."

Stourbridge Tory MP Suzanne Webb said Mr Hunt had been "fair and honest" about the challenges facing the country and the response required.

"We will all have to pay more tax, but Jeremy Hunt has done this while protecting the vulnerable with rises in benefits and pensions in line with inflation, an extended energy price cap for households and further targeted cash support for those on benefits, pensioners and the disabled," she said.

She backed the commitment to levelling up funding and more cash for schools, and said small businesses would be "shielded from most tax rises".

"These are not easy times across the world right now," Ms Webb added. "There is hope inflation may start to come down. The ambition must be to steady the finances, tackle inflation and then look to grow the economy."

Stuart Anderson, Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West, said he welcomed the statement, which "delivers more support for all households with the cost of living as well as an extra £11 billion for key public services such as our schools and hospitals".

He added: "This balanced set of measures will enable us to protect frontline services and boost economic growth – as we control inflation and deliver greater energy security, with the roll-out of more renewable energy sources."

Dudley North MP Marco Longhi hailed the success of his campaign to keep the triple lock for pensioners. He said: "I spoke up for pensioners before this budget and I am delighted to have won this fight on behalf of the people who fought and built our country.

"This is not just about compassion but about our values as a nation and about recognising those who worked hard in our darkest hours in the past."

Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the UK was stuck in a “Tory economic doom loop".

“Once again we had a Government budget full of tax rises and restraints on funding for public services," he said.

"The Chancellor can’t get away with blaming all of this on Covid or Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

"Of course these things have hurt all countries but only in Britain did we have a mini budget that crashed the economy, damaged our international reputation and caused mortgage rates to rocket.

"And the UK is also alone among major economies in still being smaller today than before Covid.

"This is a very British economic crisis and specifically a Conservative British economic crisis. They crashed the economy and now they are asking the public to pay the price.

"People are already struggling to pay their heating and food bills and household income is set to drop sharply after this autumn statement.

"This looks like a Government that has run out of ideas. The only way to escape the Tory economic doom loop in the long run is to improve our economic growth.

"That can’t happen overnight but it’s the only way to really improve prosperity and people’s standard of living.”