Do you feel better off than you did 13 years ago?

When it has become so hard to pay the rent or the mortgage, to put food on the table, to find the money to cover the bills, it’s unlikely. There aren’t many people who would look at their bank account and think so, with even the little ‘luxuries’ having to be put back on the shelves. And when people are paying more and more in their taxes, but seeing their public services being pushed to breaking point after brutal funding cuts, few people would say: ‘yes, after 13 years of the Conservatives in power, I feel better off’.

The Autumn Statement saw the usual smoke and mirrors from the Conservatives, but despite all their empty promises, the truth is our economy is not working and people in Ipswich are still worse off. For them to tell you to be grateful when they have given you £1 back for every £8 they’ve taken from you in tax rises since 2019, takes some brass neck.

We are now facing the largest reduction in real living standards since records began, while the tax burden will reach its highest level for 75 years.

After more than a decade of Conservatives, growth and wages have flatlined, while mortgages, prices, taxes, debt are all up. Tinkering around the edges is simply not going to cut it when the challenges facing us have been allowed to become so great.

In contrast, Labour’s Rachel Reeves’ Better Off Plan outlined a number of areas which could generate major savings for households – £3,000 a year, in fact.

Energy bills would be £1,400 a year cheaper by building cleaner power across the country through the creation of Great British Energy, and by upgrading 19 million houses, so that families have warm, future-proofed homes.

You’d find a further £400 a year in your pocket if we crack down on unfair car insurance practices like subscription traps and unfair postcode pricing.

And by building 1.5 million homes to keep housing affordable, £1,200 a year could be saved on mortgage bills.

Alongside impoverishing our people and eroding our public services, the Conservatives have hollowed out ambition and opportunity too, and our country is poorer for it. The Autumn Statement didn’t just fail to shift this trend, it baked it in.

Britain has a proud industrial and manufacturing history, so often at the cutting edge of ingenuity and entrepreneurship. Yet heritage alone won’t create new jobs, support emerging technologies and businesses, or help our country compete on the international stage.

Take the energy transition, for example. Britain has the potential to become a global superpower when it comes to clean energy, and Suffolk could be right at the heart of this new future. It wouldn’t just be good for the environment, but we could lower our bills, protect our energy supply, supercharge new jobs and skills, and get our country building and growing again.

Yet, when you consider the intense international competition from the US, Europe and China, we are in danger of being left behind. The US’ Inflation Reduction Act has directed nearly $400 billion in federal funding to clean energy. In comparison, the Conservatives’ response is so weak, so paltry, so underpowered, that Britain is set lose out. It’s the economic equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight. What a waste of talent and opportunity.

Labour’s mission will be to deliver lower bills, good jobs and a growing economy. It is time for a government with a plan to make everyone, not just a few, better off.

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