MNHQ here: Got a question for the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak MP?

[JuliaMumsnet]

Hi all,

It's clear from the boards that Mumsnet users are feeling the squeeze from the rising cost of living. So we're pleased to say that later this week, Justine will be sitting down with the man who holds the nation's purse strings, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, to ask him your questions.

If you have a question you'd like answering, you can post it below. Please stick to the usual guidelines - one question per user, keep it civil, and if one topic is dominating, please don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. We'll be limited for time so we won't be able to ask every question - but we'll try to make sure we cover the topics that we know are important to Mumsnet users.

We'll be closing the thread at midnight tonight, so please do get your questions in before that - and watch this space to hear the Chancellor's responses!

Thanks,
MNHQ

[doggiescats]

Please can you explain the maths to people who work in the care industry who have to be absent if they have Covid.These people are only entitled to SSP …approximately £100 per week and yet generally work long hours on MWW to pay their bills!
so theoretically their monthly income drops from approximately £1500 after tax etc yes they work very long hours …to £400 !! No they do not qualify for the £500 low income payment because when they are well they earn too much !

[youvegottenminuteslynn]

A genuine question. As an educated man, can he see that from a PR perspective, deciding to apply for planning permission for a new £400k leisure complex at his home (with a 40ft swimming pool, gym and tennis court) while claiming to be fully aware of the financial crisis facing people across the UK after the pandemic that plunged so many deeper into poverty, is at best absolutely tone deaf?

Can he understand how while completely legal, to many people this decision is morally questionable and displays a massive lack of empathy for the public?

[Onionpatch]

You said we should prepare for the economy and public finances to worsen.
How do I prepare for that in my role as a school administrator?

Cost are rising and the big promise is to return to the funding levels of 12 years ago. My paper costs 50% more than it did one year ago, let alone 12.

[DistrictCommissioner]

How will you be helping state schools deal with the energy crisis? Our headteacher estimates a £60k increase this year on the school fuel bill. This is a huge hole for small school budgets.

[DrPrepper]

Is it in your interest to cool down the housing market?

[QuentininQuarantino]

The IMF has downgraded the UK growth forecast to the lowest in the G7, and stated that across the eurozone governments are doing far more to minimise the impact on ordinary families. Why is the UK the outlier here?

As an example, I filled my car up over Easter holiday in Spain. It came to 80€ but when I went to pay I was charged €67 - the rest was a government discount. Why isn’t the uk doing similar?

[Happyhippy99]

I know of so many people working cash in hand and defrauding the benefits system. Why don’t you make benefit fraud easier to report and so make taxes lower for low paid earners like teaching assistants and HCA’s?

[crimesagainstwine]

Do you agree with Jacob Rees-Mogg that Civil Servants should return to the office? In spite of many people being incredibly productive WFH or having hybrid-working? Do you realise that Civil Servants do not necessarily have desks and that capacity for everyone to be in an office 5 days a week is impossible?

[Ncwinc]

How much tax revenue would be raised by abolishing ‘non dom’ taxpayer status? How many Conservative MPs (including their spouses) and major donors to the Conservative Party currently benefit from ‘non dom’ tax status?

[Hiphopopotamus]

I couldn’t imagine what it’s like to live a life in your very privileged financial position - how do you expect to have understanding and empathy the other way round in what it is like to struggle?

Do you think it’s morally right for so much wealth in this country to be held by so few people. And if not, how would you change this?

[Imherenowandthen]

What are you going to do to help people who were always struggling with the cost of living before fuel prices rocketed and everything went up? How can YOU possibly understand what it’s like to not be able to afford to buy food or pay your rent? Do you simply not care about these people? Do you even know that some people are on benefits because they’re too ill to work and can’t get access to social housing, their housing benefit doesn’t cover private rent and they have to supplement this from the meagre benefits of £77 a week, as well as pay for heating and electricity and food? How do you think you could help these people?

obviously these questions won’t be put to you, but worth a try!

[gamerchick]

What are you (if anything, but at this point assuming you don't care) going to do to stop people starving or freezing to death this coming winter?

This isn't an exaggeration. People are genuinely struggling, not because they are feckless but because the cost rises are excessive

I want to echo this question. People are scared and angry. Next winter is going to be major pain for a majority of the country. Even those who haven't really struggled before.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

How do you sleep at night? If the answer to that is 'well', may I ask a supplementary question please? My supplementary question would be: Do you have a moral conscience?

[Quackpot]

Why do you think it is economically sustainable to have a minimum wage set at such a low level. It is impossible for a single person working 40 hours per week on minimum wage to afford to pay for their housing, tax, food, energy, and commuting costs without needing state welfare payments. Once you add partners and children into that situation it's even more dire. Make employer's pay a fair wage to their employees, instead of making full time employed people reliant on benefits to scrape by.

'Living wage' is not a living wage, it's just terminology designed to trick people into thinking they're getting a better deal. I challenge you might like to try living in a 1 bed inner city council flat for a month with just 'living wage' to live off, without all your rich people creature comforts.

Also, give us a snap general election please. We're all tired of this farcical government.

[coldandverytired]

Do you understand that cutting the VAT on 'green bling' only helps those with wealth who have plans to reduce their overheads on their massive swimming pool complexes?😤Do you see why the electorate can't trust a word you say?

[Grumpyoldpersonwithcats]

Could you explain why you had a Green Card for so long? Do you think it was appropriate to keep this while being a UK Government minister? Was it revoked, or did you give it up voluntarily?

[MalFunkshun]

Do you believe that a key feature of a democracy is legal equality of all those within it, including those given the privilege of leading it?

if yes, can you please explain how you and our Prime Minister can square this belief with the fact that both you and he have been found acting unlawfully and yet you both feel it appropriate to stay within your roles?

if no, could you explain what you understand by the term ‘democracy’ and how you think your government upholds this?

[MarshaBradyo]

In what ways do you think you are able to be more fiscally and economically responsible than Labour?

eg in terms of passing down debt to the next generation and beyond

[Pissyduck]

Will you be doing more to help people with the cost of living? The council tax rebate is only £150, which doesn't even touch the sides of the rising costs people are seeing. The 5p off fuel has already been swallowed up by further fuel increases, and there is no additional help between now and autumn when we all get a loan for energy bills. When will you admit that your package isn't anywhere near enough to help people?

[SparklestheUnicorn]

So many questions I’d like answers to, not least how you manage to sleep at night. But I guess the biggest one is like an answer to is how do you expect people to cope with the rising cost of living? I'm a single parent to 3 teenagers. I earn an average income but I work over 50 hours a week to do so. I cannot see how on earth I’m going to manage to heat our home, clothe them, pay for travel to and from school, uni costs for eldest and put food on the table. I have been over the figures time and time again and I just cannot make it work. I am genuinely terrified… but I am far from being the worst off. What do you expect those already facing poverty to do?

[Eve]

In the UK in 2022 - why is life so shit for so many people?

[PuggyMum]

About 2-3 years ago I did an online calculator thing that said we were in the top 5% in terms of wealth / disposable income.

DH is a PC and I'm an admin type role. We earn the same so no way high earners so this was a surprise, but we've saved and overpaid our mortgage.

As we now feel the squeeze and are making massive lifestyle changes, I worry about the 95% of people that will sink before we do. And I see it happening in my community already.

Do you worry at all about the 99.999999999999% of people behind you?
It certainly keeps me awake at night.

[QuebecBagnet]

Will you look at nationalising of energy firms? It’s so wrong that private companies are making a profit out of people struggling to literally survive. So many people are cold to the detriment of their health. The “rebate “ which needs to be paid back is useless

[Panicmode1]

Given that you are immensely wealthy, and are surrounded by Cabinet members who are also extremely privileged, how can you begin to understand how people living on UC, who are disabled, who are living on a minimum wage can make their day to day finances work? Should it be enacted that every elected MP has to spend a week/two weeks/six weeks living on the basic welfare payments people receive, so that you have SOME idea of what life is like for 'ordinary' people?

I work part time for a charity that is seeing unprecedented demand for referrals to food banks, for help with buying clothes for their children, who can't afford to shower every day. These are in families where both parents are working, not just those on benefits. This isn't something that is just down to Ukraine, or Covid, or Brexit - your party has been in power since 2010 in one form or another and has created a deeply divided society - what are you going to do to help those who are already struggling, through what is likely to be a very, very difficult winter and beyond?