This week, I voted against the Government’s Finance Bill, which will only add to the crises of low pay, insecure work, rising poverty and inequality now facing us after ten years of austerity and the Government’s mishandling of the pandemic.

In my speech, I criticised the Government’s ongoing attempt to divide white working-class communities and ethnic minority working-class communities. Their age-old divide and rule tactics cannot conceal the shocking inequalities that have grown on their watch and deepened during the pandemic.

I also pointed out the lack of a proper equality impact assessment alongside the Bill. MPs should be able to properly scrutinise Government policy decisions with an eye on their potential impacts. We can’t talk about sexism, racism, ableism and poverty properly without talking about the economy. Their refusal to do this on multiple occasions only makes everyone wonder what they’ve got to hide. I’ll be tabling an amendment to ensure they do conduct and publish a full impact assessment alongside this Bill.

As far as I can see, the only people this billionaires’ budget will leave better-off are the wealthy and big corporations. They are set to benefit from some truly mouth-watering tax giveaways and reductions, which the Financial Secretary to the Treasury admits will only help a small handful of the wealthiest firms.