Some members of the British public could be set to receive a £1,100 cash boost under Rishi Sunak's high cost of living schemes. The Prime Minister and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are currently working out the final details of the financial statement, which will be published on Thursday.
Under the reported proposals, benefit claimants would get £650, while pensioners would get £300 and an extra £150 disability payment to boot. A government source said: "Rishi has looked at his cost of living plan last time and is sticking with it again".
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Sunak said: "The first challenge we face is inflation. We are not alone in that, Germany and Italy, for example, have inflation which is higher than ours at the moment.
Subscribe to NEXTDWP Christmas payment dates for Universal Credit, Child Benefit and more
And it's important that we get a handle on that, it's important that we limit the increase in mortgage rates that people are experiencing. And the best way to do that is to get a handle on our borrowing levels and get our debt down on a sustainable basis.
"Of course I would tell all executives to adopt a pay freeze at a time like this and make sure they're looking after all their workers too," he told ITV News. Mr Sunak said the rate of food bank use in the UK was "obviously tragic" amid a worsening cost of living crisis.
"I have great admiration and gratitude for the people who are providing them in my constituency and elsewhere," he told ITV. "But I definitely want to get to a position where no one has to use the food bank."
Mr Sunak said he accepted that "mistakes were made" during Liz Truss's brief reign as prime minister. The new prime minister told Sky: "What I want to do now is fix them". He said: "I think I've demonstrated over the summer that I'm prepared to be honest with the country about the challenges we face and to take the tough decisions needed to fix them."