LAST week, the UK Chancellor unveiled his Spring Statement – ushering in another decade of austerity cuts during a cost of living crisis.

Support for struggling households was absent while instead the Chancellor delivered tax breaks that will disproportionately benefit the richest, with any benefit for working families completely wiped out by the cost of rising rents, mortgages, bills and food prices.

Fourteen years of Westminster economic mismanagement has brought us to this point and this latest budget confirms the Chancellor has no answer to solving the UK economy’s chronic long term problems.

It also serves as a reminder that we cannot build a fair, dynamic economy while being tied to Westminster.

The pre-election tax cuts brought in by the Chancellor won’t fundamentally shift the dial for millions of households across the UK who are facing falling living standards and bearing the brunt of the UK government’s series of disastrous economic decisions.

Analysis from the New Economic Foundation shows: The top 20 per cent of households will receive 12 times more (£3.8bn) than the bottom 20 per cent (£0.3bn) because of 2p National Insurance (NI) cut.

Combined with the NI cut in the Autumn Statement, the top 20 per cent of households will receive £8bn from national insurance cuts, whilst the bottom 20 per cent will only get £0.7bn.

The disproportionate distribution of the benefit from this NI cut will mean that 127,000 people will be pushed into relative poverty.

I wonder if the Chancellor was inspired by Inverclyde Labour when it comes to making life harder for local households, they appear to be remaining firm in their decision to increase council tax in Inverclyde by 8.2 per cent.