Wigan resident slams minister over cost of living
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Sky News host Kay Burley has returned home to wigan to find out how the cost of living is impacting communities. A woman interviewed by the Sky News host, charity founder Mika Shika was invited to put questions to Government Minister Rachel Maclean on the issue of rising household bills in Britain.
Ms Shika told Sky News: “I also happen to work with families from communities experiencing inequalities, and my question is, if those services are available, we are finding as an organisation, that the people we work alongside are not able to access those, the support that’s available because of the certain boundaries.
“If there’s a requirement of certain paperwork or if there are forms that need to be online and they don’t have access to that.”
The founder of Ekhaya Empowerment CIC continued: “It’s become a lot more complicated, especially when people are not accessing that.
“So my question is what are you putting in place for those people that it’s so easy to access, as opposed to being so complicated?”
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Ms Maclean replied: “I think that’s it’s a really good point.
“And we do recognise that not everybody has access to the internet.
“And of course, we want to get those funds targeted to where they really need to go as quickly as possible without excessive paperwork.
“I mean, there has to be some basic paperwork.”
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“Of course, you’re talking about public money, and obviously, the Government would be criticised if we didn’t take those proportionate steps,” added the Minister for Safeguarding.
Ms Maclean told Sky News: “I think what we need to focus on now is over the long-term.
“We do have these short-term pressures on us that we’re all aware of … but over the long-term we need to have a plan to grow the economy and make sure that people are able to protect themselves better, whether that is by taking on more hours or moving to a better-paid job.
“These are long-term actions but that is what we are focused on as a Government.”
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Ms Maclean said she was not “suggesting for one moment” that such an option would work for everyone, adding: “It may be right for some people, they may be able to access additional hours, but, of course, it is not going to work for people who are already in three jobs.
“That’s why we need to have the other measures, such as all the help we are putting into schools, the help with the local authorities … and that’s where we are going to target help to where it is most needed.”
The Conservatives lost nearly 500 seats in the local council elections, some Tories have been calling for tax cuts as the only way to deliver real help to those who are struggling.
Meanwhile, ministers have been resisting calls for a windfall tax on the profits of the energy companies which have been swollen by rising oil and gas prices, warning of the impact on investment in new “green” technologies.
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