On Wednesday 25 November the Chancellor delivered his Autumn Statement, setting out the state of the economy and the Government’s spending plans.

The Tories have failed on their own targets on the economy. They have broken their promise to get rid of the deficit by 2015, borrowing is now £200 billion higher than planned in 2010 and national debt has increased to 80.5% of GDP.

The Chancellor has also been forced into reversing his damaging cuts to tax credits. Tax credits help make work pay but the Tories planned cuts would have lead to more than 3 million families losing £1,300 a year on average, pushing 200,000 more children into poverty. My Labour colleagues in the House of Lords successfully delayed the cuts, and I voted against them in the House of Commons. You can read more about why Labour opposed these cuts here.

I will continue to stand up for working families across Leicester to ensure they are properly supported.