Stone accuses Chancellor of 'not listening' over millions excluded from help
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North MP Jamie Stone has accused the Chancellor of the Exchequer of "not listening" after he failed to offer financial support to the three million people excluded from UK government help during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Stone hit out after hearing the measures announced by Rishi Sunak in his budget statement today.
The Chancellor outlined a range of initiatives, including plans to help the economy get through the difficulties created by Covid-19, and defended his job retention schemes. But Mr Stone, the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) Excluded UK, was unhappy the Chancellor did not address the question of support for those who have missed out on financial help from the government.
The Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross said: "Rishi started his statement by telling businesses, 'If you stand by your workers, we will stand by you.' If this government were really the party of business and hard-working families then the Chancellor would have made a U-turn on excluding the three million people who have not received any government support during coronavirus.
"He would have conceded that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme needed more flexibility to respond to the needs of new starters, small limited companies and the self-employed.
"The common thread tying the Chancellor's so-called plan together is the fact he is simply not listening."
Mr Stone and a number of other MPs had called on the Chancellor to provide help for those who have not been entitled to government support during the Covid-19 crisis. They urged Mr Sunak not only to respond to the Treasury Select Committee interim report and its recommendations to help all those who have been excluded but also to commit to a meeting with the APPG and Excluded UK as "a matter of urgency".
Speaking before the budget statement, Mr Stone said:"We have all heard too many heartbreaking stories from those who have lost their livelihoods overnight as a result of the coronavirus crisis and are entirely excluded from the government’s financial support measures.
"It is simply unacceptable that many individuals are ineligible for every kind of support, even Universal Credit, for entirely arbitrary reasons. We need to get the change these people so desperately need."
