Marr: Sunak threw the kitchen sink at the cost-of-living crisis but it comes at a cost
26 May 2022, 18:25 | Updated: 27 May 2022, 08:21
Andrew Marr reacts to Rishi Sunak's cost of living support package
Andrew Marr says Rishi Sunak's package of financial to help families through the cost-of-living crisis "certainly came at the perfect moment" to help Boris Johnson "out of his enormous hole".
Speaking at the start of Tonight with Andrew Marr after the Chancellor announced his plans to give every household in Britain £400 off their energy bills, the LBC presenter said: "Why today, why this week of all weeks?
"An enormous u-turn on windfall tax and a whopping package of help for British families, but if you want to feel cynical about the timing in this little country of ours, by all means go ahead, fill your boots, your welcome.
"Rishi Sunak's package of financial help certainly came at the perfect moment to help Boris Johnson out of his equally enormous hole.
"But in the right analysis I’d suggest to you, the help for Johnson matters much less than the help for millions of ordinary folk struggling to pay their fuel and food bills.
"Make no mistake, it may have come late but when Sunak acted, he threw the kitchen sink at the problem.
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"In fact not just the sink but the fridge freezer the hob and the cutlery draw as well.
"This was a huge £15bn plus intervention, bigger than anything the Labour opposition was proposing, indeed about twice as generous as the treasury suggests tonight.
"In politics as in life, everything comes at a cost, and for many Tory MP's who only last week, had been ordered to vote against a dangerous labour windfall tax, being asked today to celebrate a virtuous, useful Tory windfall tax, stuck rather in the throat.
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"Richard Drax the south Dorset MP accused the Chancellor of throwing red meat to the socialists but millions of people, including 8 million on benefits, as well as pensioners and the disabled, are going to get real meaningful help at an anxious time.
"Commentators who mocked the spring statement for being stingy, and I was one of them, and have been pleading with the treasury to go further, and I was one of them, should be wary now of never taking yes for an answer."
