MP for South East Cambridgeshire, Lucy Frazer welcomes the budget and visits a local pub.

The last few years have not been easy for our national economy. The Treasury provided an estimated £373 billion of support during the pandemic, followed by an additional £50 billion in 2022-23 to protect households and businesses from spiralling energy costs caused by the war in Ukraine. These interventions were essential, but incurred enormous cost.

Despite this, the Chancellor reported in his Spring Budget last week that our resilient economy is recovering well.

Inflation is down by over a half from over 11 per cent to just over four per cent in little more than a year and is forecast to fall below the targeted two per cent in a matter of months, while economic growth has outperformed expectations and is still higher than our large European neighbours since 2010.

Last week, the Chancellor used the budget to introduce permanent cuts to taxation, allowing people to keep more of their hard-earned income.

By cutting National Insurance Contributions by a further two per cent, on top of the two per cent reduction in the autumn, the average worker will save £900 per year. The changes to National Insurance rates will also save the average self-employed worker £650 each year.

It was also great to see the Chancellor address the High Income Child Benefit Charge, which some of my constituents have written to me about. I know that child benefit is a lifeline for many families in Ely and surrounding areas.

In addition to other measures to support personal finance – including a freeze to alcohol duty, a 5p cut to fuel duty, and extending the Household Support Fund – the Chancellor made some provisions for our wider region. For example, in the coming year, Greater Cambridge will receive over £10 million for local transport and health infrastructure in another step towards renewing the area.

As ever, I am keen to hear from you and support you practically in any way that I can, so please do not hesitate to contact me on lucy.frazer.mp@parliament.uk, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.