I am delighted to see that figures published this June show that our local economic outlook is improving, with the Salisbury claimant count down 895 people on this time last year. Evidently, serious economic challenges still remain. With inflation, we will all be feeling the rise in the cost of living, from the cost of day to day products in our supermarkets, to the cost of energy bills and fuel prices, all families are feeling the squeeze on incomes. It’s why the Government took the decision when I was a Minister in the Treasury to provide a universal one off cost of living payment of £650 to every household which claims it, supporting people throughout our community. Despite this difficult period, more people remain in work than at any time in our history and I am optimistic that we will come through the other side of these challenges, stronger and better off.
