Following the Chancellor’s statement to Parliament today on the Budget and Spending Review, the Catholic Union has issued the response below:
Catholic Union Director, Nigel Parker, comments: “This Budget and Spending Review should be the foundation for our recovery from the pandemic – not just in terms of Government spending, but also in terms of the kind of society we want to create post-Covid.
“It’s therefore disappointing that the Chancellor’s statement to Parliament did not include a single mention of society and failed to set out plans to support charities and voluntary groups who did so much to help us through the pandemic.
“Extra support for Family Hubs and adjustments to Universal Credit are welcome, but the Government has missed the opportunity for fundamental reforms to our tax and benefit system to support families. We will continue to make the case for these important changes.
“As our recovery continues, we must focus on those on the margins of society. Additional funding to tackle rough sleeping is welcome, but the Chancellor failed to address the underlying causes of people ending up on our streets such as addiction and the broken housing market.
“It’s encouraging to hear that the commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on international development remains on the Chancellor’s radar, although by his calculations it will take several years before this level of spending on overseas aid returns.”