Last Wednesday I was in Parliament early for the ritual of putting in a Prayer card to reserve a seat for the Budget. As the first Budget of the new government it was always going to define the Parliament and it did – with major tax rises, increasing borrowing, and delivering lower growth than forecast before the election.
By imposing £42 billion of tax rises including national insurance, the government broke promises it made to the British people. At the election, Labour repeatedly said its plans were fully costed with no more tax rises needed than those set out (such as the 20% education tax). Yet now working people will be hit, local firms will face higher costs - charities, nurseries and care homes have all warned of the damaging impact of rises for them.
Tourism, leisure, and hospitality are worth of £560 million to the West Norfolk economy and account for a fifth of all jobs. As well has higher NI, the government has cut the discount on business rates meaning from April next year pubs, restaurants, bars, and other firms in the sector face higher bills.
And what about growth? Well, the independent Office of Budget Responsibility has said that over the parliament there will be lower growth than was expected before the election.
Perhaps one of the more surprising changes was another broken promise – this time to protect family farms. Agricultural Property Relief was put in the place in the 1990s specifically to protect family farms in recognition of their important role as growers of our food and custodians of the countryside.
Putting in place what’s now known as a Family Farm Tax, the NFU and others have warned this will lead to the break-up of farms, weaken food security, undermine environmental action, and hurt rural areas like ours. In the House of Commons, I urged the minister to rethink these plans and I will keep campaigning for that.
Sadly, it is not just farming where the government is letting Norfolk down. They have scrapped a £600 million devolution deal, there was no announcement on additional dental training at the UEA that MPs are campaigning for, and we await firm pledges to meet those of the last government on Ely Junction and the West Winch Housing Access Road.
More positively, the government committed to move swiftly on RAAC hospital rebuilds. I used the Budget debate to call on the Health Secretary to work with me and QEH to get on with their plans and release funding so the project is be ready by 2030. He said he would and I will hold him to that commitment.
For motorists there was also good news. After more than a decade of frozen fuel duty, the government listened to the calls I and other MPs made to continue to support people particularly in rural areas like ours.
But it is very disappointing the Chancellor has not done anything to help 21,700 pensioners locally who will lose their winter fuel payments. It is galling for pensioners losing to £300 this winter to see Labour MPs posing for photos and offering advice on dealing with heating bills.
The new government claimed they could be trusted but instead this Budget was a series of broken promises which do not deliver stronger growth and instead target working people and those investing and creating the money to pay for our public services.
