Northumberland’s Labour Group is reinforcing Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer’s call to protect family incomes during the latest lockdown.

Labour Group leader Susan Dungworth said: “This third lock down is taking many people and families up to (and in many cases beyond) breaking point.

“People are worried about paying bills, paying for childcare or coping with insecure work

“We’d urge the council to look at these proposals locally in the interests of people living in the county and do do everything they can to get as much support for residents as possible.”

The proposals are:

• backing local government and giving it the money it needs to prevent the planned council tax rise, which will cost the average Band D household an extra £91 a year;
• stopping the planned cut in Universal Credit, which would put an extra £1,000 in the pockets of six million families;
• giving our key workers the pay rise they deserve, including our teachers, armed forces and care workers;
• extending the ban on evictions and repossessions while the UK remains in lockdown.

Susan continued: “This pandemic has highlighted inequalities and the widening gap between people are have enough to live on and those who don’t. I think many people would agree that this simply can’t continue.

“We cannot return to an economy where over half our care workers earn less than the living wage, where childcare is among the most expensive in Europe, where our social care system is a national disgrace and where over four million children grow up in poverty.

“taking these steps now would make a real difference to millions of people across the country and it would put families at the heart of the economic recovery.”

“As Keir Starmer said, the government has the wrong priorities for Britain. They gave Dominic Cummings a £40,000 pay rise but refuse to pay our carers a decent wage. They wasted £22 billion of taxpayers’ money on a testing system that doesn’t work but now won’t find the money to support families. They sprayed money around on private contracts that didn’t deliver, but won’t give councils the support they need to support their residents. That’s why he, and we, are calling on the government to put families first during this lockdown.

“We have been warned that things will get worse before they get better. People need to know they’re being supported. This dreadful situation is an opportunity to decide to do things differently to build a better future for each and every person living in our county and country.”