Budget 2025 and living standards

That this House recognises that the cost-of-living crisis is the number one priority for voters; notes with concern that households have suffered a decade of falling incomes, leaving many families unable to afford essentials including the weekly shop, rents, and mortgages; believes that the upcoming Budget must make it easier for families to make ends meet; further notes the need for fair taxation of the wealthiest, including billionaires who have doubled their wealth over the past decade, to fund a package of cost-of-living support; calls for the building of council homes to tackle the affordable housing crisis; urges measures to lower energy costs through a social tariff for low-income households; recommends an increase in the minimum wage to £15 an hour and sectoral collective bargaining in all industries to put more money in workers’ pockets; calls for reform of the welfare system, including lifting the two-child limit and benefit cap and raising Local Housing Allowance in line with market rents so families can get by and children do not grow up in hardship; and accordingly urges the Government to bring forward a Budget for living standards.