Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Claire Young Excerpts
Tuesday 3rd November 2026

(1 day, 23 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lucy Rigby Portrait Lucy Rigby
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I will. As I said, I want to see this matter resolved in a satisfactory way, not least due to the ongoing harm that my hon. Friend describes.

Claire Young Portrait Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)
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3. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the autumn Budget 2026 on household living costs.

Will Forster Portrait Mr Will Forster (Woking) (LD)
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10. What steps he has taken to help reduce the cost of living.

John Healey Portrait The Chancellor of the Exchequer (John Healey)
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My Budget last week took action to help people worried about the pressure of winter bills. A £100 household energy payment will be made directly to people’s bank accounts in 20 million households. We have the VAT cut from electricity bills, the 5p cut to fuel duty extended through the winter to July and standing charges removed entirely from gas bills next year. This action gives people a bit of breathing space with the cost of living pressures, and I am asking banks to pay a bit more to fund this help for households this winter.

Claire Young Portrait Claire Young
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The Treasury is cutting £1 billion from the warm homes fund, including a smaller than planned pot for the boiler upgrade scheme. Combined with tax rises on heat pumps, these cuts risk creating a boom-and-bust cycle for installers and leaving more households exposed to the volatility of the oil and gas market. Can the Chancellor explain how cutting support for clean heating is consistent with the Government’s own mission for a clean energy transition?

John Healey Portrait John Healey
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Our priority is to give people who are facing a winter of worry with rising energy bills just a bit of relief. That is why the priority is the £100 paid directly into people’s bank accounts, which will go to 20 million households. That is four in five households in England, and it will reach nine out of 10 of the poorest third of families. It is timely, it is targeted and it is fair. It is a choice that this Government have made in the Labour Budget that I delivered last week.