Lincolnshire charity claims people will be left feeling "betrayed" after Chancellor's announcement

We've also been getting reaction from Lincolnshire small business leaders

Author: Andy MarshPublished 18th Oct 2022

Lincolnshire charity, Christians Against Poverty says the Chancellor's announcement will leave people feeling 'betrayed'

Jeremy Hunt said a planned income tax cut has been scrapped whilst a two-year unit energy price freeze will now run for just six months.

Longer term energy prices will be looked into with the aim of targeting them at those most in need.

We spoke to the charity about their reaction.

Regional Manager, Lorraine Papaioannou told us: "Those who are struggling on the lowest incomes are already in debt through their energy bills and food prices going up."

"All the basics and essentials are going through the roof."

"They feel isolated and desperate and are really worried about the winter and what that's going to bring."

"We've heard about people who are making these awful choices but to heat or to eat is really real for a lot of families at that lowest income level."

"We know that our clients are just going to be rocked by this."

"At least they knew what they were doing for 2 years, 6 months is just too short."

We also got reaction from Katrina Pierce from the Federation of Small Businesses.

She told us: ""There's been enormous turmoil, both politically and economically for many weeks now, and this makes life very very challenging for small businesses, to grow, to invest, to make decisions, to create jobs, to realistically do anything at all."

"IR35, the de-coupling of those pay through dividends and the reduction in national insurance, they will be a blow for small business owners, and it's going to hit hard working entrepreneurs who create jobs and create wealth across the county, and that is disappointing."

"It's time to focus on stability and growth, it's been an extremely turbulent time that has been exhausting for small business owners, but we're really focused to get those energy support packages through parliament and get the money out to businesses urgently."