This is an opportunity missed to take proper action on bills and incomes

General Secretary of Prospect union Mike Clancy, responding to the Spring Statement, said:

“This Spring statement will go down as a missed opportunity to help households with rocketing bills and falling wages. Despite the welcome shift in the National Insurance threshold, the Chancellor failed to provide immediate relief for rising bills and pressure on incomes.

“I was hoping to hear more from the Chancellor on R&D, one of the biggest potential drivers of growth in our economy – tax cuts are not the answer, we need long term goals and a coherent strategy to boost investment. Instead existing budget allocations for R&D, defence and other critical areas have been effectively downgraded in real terms as the Chancellor took no action to adjust them in light of higher costs they now face.

“This was also an opportunity to revisit the government’s spending settlement and allocate more money to defence, including building sovereign capability in ship-building and boosting the size of the civilian defence workforce. Sadly the Chancellor declined this opportunity as he declined the opportunity to make a commitment to investing in new nuclear power.

“We heard nothing from the Chancellor on public sector pay, raising the spectre that he once again intends to boost his coffers off the back of hardworking public servants who have already had more than a decade of real-terms pay cuts.

“The government has an array of levers at its disposal to help hard-pressed Britons and boost growth – on the basis of this statement he is unwilling to use them.”