31/10/2024
A Budget of Broken Promises
The long-awaited budget provides a body blow to pensioners, business people and large sections of our community.
There is a fundamental truth at the heart of Labour’s budget that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves had always planned to raise your taxes, let borrowing rip and break their promises. Both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer did not have the courage to tell the British people at the general election. This is a budget of broken promises and I believe all of my constituents across Aldridge-Brownhills and Britain deserve better.
I am extremely disappointed that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has decided to proceed with her cruel and callous decision to axe Winter Fuel Payments for our most vulnerable citizens. The decision to means test the Winter Fuel Payment will have a devastating effect on more than 18,000 pensioners across my Aldridge-Brownhills constituency and should have been reversed.
Since the Government announcement in the summer to scrap Winter Fuel Payments I have consistently called for the Government to rethink their decision as it is a measure that will only provide £1.5 billion back to the Government. How can it be that every train driver in this country will receive an inflation busting pay rise but people who have worked hard all their lives and have done the right thing will be subjected to this punitive cut.
The new Labour Government’s Job Tax to hike up National Insurance contributions for employers will only harm our business community and our wider economy across Aldridge-Brownhills and the Black Country.
Businesses will be forced to bear the brunt of this full-frontal attack, damaging jobs and livelihoods. This Government seems to ignore the fact that businesses are the wealth creators right across the United Kingdom and today’s measures will only cause untold damage to our wider economy.
Whilst I am pleased the Chancellor of the Exchequer has decided not to take away the fuel duty escalator, I am disappointed that they have decided to increase the £2 bus fare cap by 50% to £3 per day which is extremely disappointing for hard working public transport users who rely on the bus for going to work.
The Government came to office on a commitment not to change debt targets in their words it would be tantamount to ‘fiddling the figures’. However, today the Chancellor of the Exchequer has taken safeguards off national debt allowing borrowing to boom risking the prospect of higher interest rates for longer.
The current Labour Government have been in office for a mere 118 days and they are letting down the residents of Aldridge-Brownhills, our local area and our country. This budget is only seeking to punish hard working people and I will be setting out in full my objections to the budget throughout the course of the next few days as part of the budget debate.
