WOKINGHAM TODAY UPDATED DAILY AT WWW.WOKINGHAM.TODAY
THE VOICE OF THE BOROUGH
Thursday, June 2, 2022
No. 366 90p
Households to receive £400 energy bill discount HOOKERS CROWN THE JUBILEE P12
By DANIEL BLACKHAM dblackham@wokingham.today HOUSEHOLDS in Wokingham are set to receive support to tackle the cost of living crisis.
On Thursday, May 26, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced a £15 billion package of support which he called a “significant set of interventions” to help offset rising energy bills and inflation. The package will include a oneoff payment of £650 for families on means-tested benefits. Under the new measures the government will scrap plans to give everyone £200 off bills which would be repaid over five years. Instead, households in England, Scotland and Wales will receive £400 this October which will not need to be paid back. The package will be partly funded by a windfall tax on energy companies which Mr Sunak called a “temporary, targeted energy profits levy”. Mr Sunak told MPs: “The oil and gas sector is making extraordinary profits, not as the result of recent changes to risk-taking or innovation or efficiency, but as the result of surging global commodity prices driven in part by Russia’s war. “The high inflation we are experiencing now is causing acute distress for the people of this country. “We will send directly to around eight million of the lowest-income households a one-off cost of living payment of £650 to give vulnerable people certainty that we are standing by them at this challenging time. “This government will never stop trying to help people.” n Continued on page 8
NEARLY THERE! NEW POOL LATEST P36
MA’AM, WE’RE READY TO PARTY
Pupils at Rivermead Primary School create the Union Flag in their playing fields as part of their Platinum Jubilee celebrations
Final preparations being made for four days of celebration
DANCING ONCE AGAIN P35 ISSN 2634-8330
WOKINGHAM is ready to party like never before.
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Over the next four days, we will celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Tonight, it’s beacon lighting, and then we party. There are street parties, concerts, sports days, church services and much more, all to mark 70 years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. n Full story on pages 10-11
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