Mary Glindon MP: High time for a general election

Having endured four very different Prime Ministers in the last 13 years there is a palpable desperation in Sunak’s calculations.

He keeps looking for something new to convince voters that his party is still viable. Weeks ago, he tried to position his party as a change from the last 30 years.

He then delivered a damp squib of a King’s Speech and then brought back David Cameron who is, after all, one of the main architects of all that he berated about the last 30 years.

The Autumn Statement provided another chance to reset but it’s already flailing and failing with the public. Their pre-election tax measures are minor compared to the fact that taxes are still heading to their highest level for decades.

This is mainly due to a five year freeze on personal allowances. People may earn the same but are being taken into higher tax bands by stealth in what is known as fiscal drag.

Before this week’s statement the Government was hiking taxes by the equivalent of 10p on National Insurance. Now they have cut that by 2p. The public are not fools and can see through that conjurer’s trick.

And we all know that living standards are still falling. They will have dived by 3.1% by the end of this parliament. It’s the only parliament on record where living standards have fallen.

The main question is whether “my family and I are better off or not.” That’s no for most people.

It is time to let the people decide through an election as a matter of urgency.

Mary Glindon is Labour MP for North Tyneside