After months of speculation, this week saw Labour’s long-awaited Budget coming as another disappointment for working people. Before I share my thoughts on what was announced, I want to highlight the continued challenges faced by our Lincolnshire family farmers that have been ongoing especially since the last Budget.
On Wednesday before heading to the House of Commons, I joined farmers from across the country, including many from Lincolnshire, who were again making their voices and tractor horns heard in opposition to the Family Farm Tax. Throughout much of Westminster and at their protest centred upon Trafalgar Square, farmers were clear that the Government had a chance that day to finally put things right. Sadly they were set to be disappointed again hours later, but the campaign will continue.
Budget Day is always one of the most important days on the Parliamentary and economic calendar. While for many the Budget may seem just a complicated book of graphs and numbers, these statistics can have such a huge impact on our daily lives. We all share in the responsibility to ensure that public services are paid for, just as we all hope to be able to benefit from them. Sensible, hard-working people, like in our area, also share an understanding of our national responsibility to not burden future generations with debt, so where challenges force us to borrow more, we accept that we must do our bit to pay that debt down.
What so many people in our area have shared with me in recent weeks, is their frustration that this Government seems to take advantage of the willingness of so many people to do our fair share, without delivering the services, fair choices, or sensible financial decisions that we were all promised in return.
At the election, Labour promised not to raise taxes on working people. Yet almost 18 months into this Government, we have now seen another tax rise for working people. The Chancellor announced both an extension to the freeze on Income Tax thresholds and is going after those who take the responsible decision to save for retirement.
Local high street businesses, village pubs, and our farmers are all set to continue to face significant challenges with energy bills higher than any other major economy and a seemingly ever higher tax bill demanded by the Chancellor. Drivers of electric vehicles, taxis, and people who dare to enjoy anything from spending a night away to drinking milkshakes - all face paying more over the coming years as a result of what was announced this week.
Overall, this Parliament is now set to be the largest tax-raising Parliament since at least the 1970s.
At the same time, on the back of the Budget, spending on welfare is now set to increase by more than £9 billion. Growth is set to be slower, inflation and unemployment higher, and living standards improving more slowly, all over this decade than was forecast before Labour took office.
Responsible Governments act in the national interest. The public expects the Government to take difficult decisions on tax and spending, to live within its means, to back those who get up each day to do the right thing, and make promises they can deliver. It will come as no surprise that I agree with the view that many have shared with me that - on these tests if nothing else, this Budget has yet again not met the mark.
