Teacher complains that the UK's economic crisis forces them to put house reno on hold
17 November 2022, 18:34
'The Chancellor has forgotten about the working poor' says caller.
"Quality of life has gone out of the picture": This caller who claims to be "the working poor" gets emotional as she tells Tom Swarbrick her house extension will be put on hold in light of the Autumn Statement.
This LBC caller, who teaches economics at A Level, told Tom Swarbrick: "The Chancellor has forgotten the working poor ... the pensioners get support, the low-income universal credit people get support but what about the people who are working?"
This comes after the Chancellor's Autumn Statement announcement today, which sees an impact on many of the UK's workers.
The personal allowance tax threshold and the higher-rate tax threshold are being frozen until 2028. This could raise problems for those who have just been given an hourly pay rise as they could be dragged into the higher tax band, therefore, giving more of their money to the taxman.
READ MORE: The winners and losers of today's autumn budget announced by Jeremy Hunt
Tom concluded that the caller is likely to get support with their energy bills, however, no additional support will be given outside of that. The government is extending the energy price guarantee, which caps the average household energy bills at £2,500 a year.
"The next two years are going to be tough because inflation is not going to get anywhere near 2%," forecasted this caller.
Despite coming from a two-income household, the caller told Tom: "It's putting pressure on people who are working so hard ... I'll probably have to put the extension and renovation of my house on hold for another three years."
The emotional teacher choked up: "It feels so sad to see this happening in the UK...the quality of life has gone out of the picture and the living standard has gone down."
Tom put the situation into perspective: "This is obviously bad, but I don't think it's 2008/2009 bad. Certainly not in terms of the spending cuts right now."
This caller's story caused some uproar on Twitter.
Has to put an extension on hold? Ah diddums. Most are being hit far worse than that.
— Paul E2 Spurs (@carling_4737) November 17, 2022
So your extension is your priority but some can’t even afford to put food on the table or even pay their energy bills yet you come here and make a mockery of those who are really hit? Oh dear🥹
— Sheila Lois (@maarrah007) November 17, 2022
“My wallet's too small for my fifties, and my diamond shoes are too tight 🙄
— Ernie (@Dean1926) November 17, 2022
