A £26 billion tax raid on working people to pay for welfare handouts.
Last year, the Chancellor raised taxes by £40 billion and promised the British people that she would not come back for more. Today she broke that promise. By freezing the tax free allowance threshold, every income tax payer will be paying more tax, including tens of thousands of my constituents. Rachel Reeves said she would not raise taxes on working people. She has done just that.
But it is not just income tax that is going up; the budget raises taxes 43 times amounting to £26 billion in order to pay for a ballooning of the welfare state. Meanwhile growth has been downgraded and inflation will remain higher for longer. Families and businesses across Worcestershire the country will rightly feel misled.
The Office for Budget Responsibility is clear that as a result of this Budget, the average household will be worse off. This is not economic stability – it is a pattern of broken promises and rising costs for ordinary households.
But I do welcome some measures in the Budget, including measures to help investment such as the exemption from Stamp Duty for newly listed companies in the UK. But this is small beer in the face of the massive tax increases elsewhere.
There were also some missed opportunities today that could have helped many of my constituents. Labour could have reverse the hated Family Farm Tax, but they didn’t, proving that they do not understand farming or the rural way of life.
The Government made some small changes to business rates, but failed to provide the support that so many small and medium sized businesses had been calling for by adopting the Conservative Party policy for 100% business rates relief for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure. Small businesses and local employers are now facing even greater pressure from higher taxes, rising employment costs and declining confidence. That means less investment, fewer jobs and weaker wage growth.
This is a Benefits Budget, paid for by those who work hard and do the right thing, while Labour continues to expand the size of the state and abandon any serious strategy for growth. But there is another way. Conservatives believe in backing business, rewarding work and cutting waste so people can keep more of what they earn. That is the approach I will continue to fight for on behalf of my constituents.
