The big event in Parliament this week was the Budget and I challenged the Chancellor for its complete lack of vision. There was little in it for supporting people into affordable homes, it failed to properly grapple with the transition to a net zero carbon economy, and there was no long term plan for social care.
There were some welcome measures, such as expanding the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) to include those with tax returns from 2019-2020. But again the Chancellor failed to fix the structural issues that have meant so many self-employed workers have been locked out of all Government support since the beginning of the pandemic. See my round-up for further details and see here to watch my speech in full.
I also pressed the Equalities Minister to outline the Government's plan for ensuring no black or minority ethnic worker removed for their own safety from a frontline role during the pandemic will see their career suffer. She promised to get back to me with answers. I'll keep pressing.
And today the Public Accounts Committee published a report on the Government's approach for achieving a net zero carbon economy. Two years after legally enshrining this commitment the Government still has no co-ordinated plan for how we will reach it. This is not good enough. There is no 'planet b' - it is vital the Government gets this right. See here to read the report in full and see here for a summary.