TAUNTON Deane MP Rebecca Pow has responded to criticism after she claimed people in the constituency had 'thousands more in their pockets' than in previous years.

Ms Pow's remarks came on Thursday during a debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday's Autumn Budget.

She provoked fury on social media after her comments, made to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, went viral.

She said on Thursday: "The people in Taunton Deane (who) speak to me, they've actually got more money in their pockets.

"We have put up the national living wage, we have cut income tax by raising the personal allowance and again we have frozen fuel duty so people have actually got thousands more in their pockets than they had under the Labour Government."

READ MORE: Taunton Deane MP says people have 'thousands more in their pockets'

Mr McDonnell accused her of being 'ignorant' to the plight of many people, adding: "I just say that all of us, who are on relatively high wages, need to understand and be very careful when we talk about levels of income, levels of wealth, when we know so many people - four million of our children - are actually living in poverty and two thirds of those children are living in households where someone is at work.

"That says something about low pay to me and it should do to all of us."

Now, Ms Pow has moved to clarify her comments, saying she was highlighting specific announcements in Wednesday's Budget.

She said: "Yesterday I highlighted how specific Budget policies are helping working people.

"The announcement of a further rise in the National Living Wage, introduced by the Conservatives, means a full-time worker previously on the minimum wage will be £2,000 better off. 

"The announcement of a further rise in the tax personal allowance means a typical taxpayer will be paying £1,075 less tax since 2010.

"And the announcement we’re freezing fuel duty for the eighth consecutive year means the average car driver is £850 better off since 2010.

"While there is always more to do, these are measures that leave more money in people’s pockets and I make no apology for welcoming them."

READ MORE: Foodbank handouts rocket in Taunton

Meanwhile, one organisation at the forefront of emergency agencies in the area - Taunton Foodbank - says their figures tell a different story.

Sue Weightman, manager of the foodbank, said it had seen a 40 per cent rise in people receiving aid from the organisation.

"If you look at our figures for the last six or 12 months, and the increase in people using the foodbank, they would indicate how things are in the Taunton area," she said.

"Overall, the steady increase in people needing to use the foodbank in Taunton would indicate a different picture."

The comments came on the day a report warned workers may have to wait up to 10 years for real wages to return to the levels seen before the 2007/08 financial crisis.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said "truly astonishing" official forecasts published alongside Wednesday's Budget suggest Britain is facing two "lost decades" following the crash without pay growth.

In a bleak analysis of Chancellor Philip Hammond's Budget, it found the age of austerity was not over "by a long chalk" and warned it may be 50 years or more before the UK gets its national debt back down to pre-crisis levels.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that the downgrade of Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts for productivity and GDP growth over the next five years showed that "our economy is on its knees".

But Mr Hammond insisted the economy remains "fundamentally strong" and said "the challenge for us now as a nation is to prove (the OBR) wrong. The challenge for us is to deliver that higher productivity that will feed through into higher economic growth."

In its own assessment of the Budget, the Resolution Foundation think tank warned that living standards could face their biggest squeeze since records began in the 1950s and warned productivity growth is set to be the worst since the early 1800s.

The "truly catastrophic" cuts to the OBR forecasts for growth suggest the economy will be £42 billion smaller in 2022 than had been expected in March, the Foundation said.

IFS director Paul Johnson said: "The squeeze on living standards over the decade so far is historically unprecedented. What's remarkable is it looks like we have at least another five years to go before we get anywhere near to having earnings back to where they were in 2008.

"That is wholly unprecedented, certainly the worst since the mid-19th century and possibly worse than even before then."

"Grim" official forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility imply that GDP per head will be 3.5% lower in 2021 than was forecast less than two years ago, equating to a £65 billion hit to the economy, said Mr Johnson.

The OBR's downgrade of growth forecasts for each of the next five years means Mr Hammond's chances of hitting his target to balance the nation's books by the middle of the 2020s are "remote".

Average earnings in 2021 look set to be nearly £1,400 lower than forecast in March 2016 - lower in real terms than at the time of the financial crash in 2008.

"We are in danger of losing not just one but getting on for two decades of earnings growth," said Mr Johnson.

Somerset County Gazette: Chancellor Philip Hammond prepares to deliver the Budget
Philip Hammond before Wednesday's Autumn Budget statement PICTURE: PA Wire 

Despite Budget giveaways for health, housing and infrastructure worth up to £9 billion a year, public services outside the NHS still face cuts of 7% in day-to-day spending over the next five years and £12 billion worth of welfare cuts are still to make their way through the system, he added.

"This is not the end of austerity, not by a long chalk," Mr Johnson said.

"The figures published yesterday imply yet one more year of spending restraint.

"As the years go by, the end of austerity keeps slipping out of view."

The OBR's downgrade of projected productivity and GDP growth means the UK's economic prospects are lagging "well behind" the other advanced economies in the G7, he added.