My constituents are dealing with huge rises in living costs, energy and food bills whilst their wages have stagnated, businesses are going under and more than a third of children in Jarrow live in poverty and public services are on their knees.

Instead of tackling any of this, we saw yet another budget for the rich.

The Chancellor’s flagship announcement of another cut to national insurance will benefit the very richest 12 times more than the lowest paid and it will be funded by yet another raid on public services budgets when they are already cut to the bone with NHS waiting lists reaching new highs, schools crumble and social housing crisis.

For fourteen years now, consecutive Conservative Governments have failed this country. 

The Chancellor can’t even convince his own MP’s that this is a good budget –  the UK is worse off under the Tories. Nothing Hunt said today changes that.

We have the highest tax burden since the Second World War and the lowest wage growth since the Napoleonic War.

The public won’t be fooled by this Government’s spin, there’s no budget giveaway for the lowest paid. They’ll be substantially worse off. 

I hope this will be the last Budget delivered by this failing chaotic Government.

It’s time they called a General Election and let us fix the mess they have made.