JEREMY Hunt has controversially claimed that earning £100,000 is “not a huge salary”.
The Chancellor made the comment after a session of “constituency calls” where he speaks to residents.
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Mr Hunt is facing a battle to hold on to his seat as he faces a fight from the Liberal Democrats.
He said the salary is not a big sum in his South West Surrey seat as he attempts to tackle a childcare offer.
Earning above £100,000 disqualifies a parent from the Tax-Free Childcare scheme which allows parents to get up to £2,000 of support per child to spend on childcare.
He said: “I spoke to a lady from Godalming about eligibility for the government’s childcare offer which is not available if one parent is earning over £100k.
“That is an issue I would really like to sort out after the next election as I am aware that it is not huge salary in our area if you have a mortgage to pay.”
But he came under fire from Ross Mudie who is a senior research analyst at the Centre for Progressive Policy.
He said: “If a £100k salary is too low to handle the costs of childcare and housing, then perhaps we need to be looking very seriously at what we can do to reduce the costs of both, quickly.”
Mr Hunt has reduced national insurance twice in recent months in a pre-election sweetener for working people.
The move could save the average worker around £900.
