What I think this budget has shown is that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are committed to getting us back to having a true Conservative position as well as ensuring stability. I breathed a sigh of relief that we have shifted into a position of driving business and seeking to reduce the tax burden. Of course, I want to see cuts go further but for the time being these are the right measures to have taken whilst we continue to reduce national debt.
Rishi said he would reduce inflation and work to get debt down and he is doing exactly that. Alongside that he is keeping the triple lock for those pensioners who have worked hard to get their deserved pensions, increased the national living wage for workers and cut NI to benefit everyone. I was also impressed by the recognition of the plight of pub landlords through the alcohol duty freeze and extending the 75 per cent business rat Hope e holiday for pubs and bars. These are important features in our community and many pubs and bars are struggling right now.
Labour’s response was in my mind laughable- in 1997 they inherited the best budget possible from John Major – extremely low national debt, money to spend and they blew it all leaving only a note on the Treasury desk saying “there is no money left.” In 2010 within the Liberal Coalition, David Cameron and George Osborne embarked on austerity to try to resolve all of the problems caused by Labour’s social state spending. I was in Parliament in 2006 onwards working in defence and the defence budgets was slashed to the bone so much by Labour that we were not meeting the requirements within the military covenant. When we finally got a fully Conservative government in 2015 the referendum loomed and sent us in a very different direction. Labour had a big role of play in that trying to thwart the outcomes of the Brexit vote. After months of wasting time, we then hit the Covid pandemic. Labour were at the very front of lockdowns and all for taking the lowest risk approach. Lockdowns cost this country billions and I am not saying the Government got it all right during the pandemic, I am angry at the bad PPE contracts for example, but Labour keenly supported the lock downs and the financial support packages. After COVID we had Ukraine, in which our Government responded brilliantly with support but again it meant a big financial hit.
Yes we had a blip during the Truss administration for which we must take responsibility, however many of the issues were out of our hands. That Labour seems to think this was all the Conservative party’s fault alone is mind boggling. COVID cost this country fortunes and I said at the time that there were going to be consequences to that spending. Rishi and Jeremy have worked to get things back on track and I believe they are succeeding.
Labour would put all of this careful work at risk with unfunded borrowing and spending driving inflation back up and leading to more debt and higher taxes in the end. They have announced they will fix all the problems such as the NHS waiting times but there is no clear costing apart from charging private schools an extra 20% which will lead to more children being taken out of private education and adding burden to the state system. I am genuinely keen to see more details of their plans but even on post budget interviews the Shadow Chancellor has not given any clarity at all. We need to continue on the pathway which was set in this budget and allow Rishi and Jeremy to continue with their plan. The Conservatives have learnt a lot of hard lessons over the last few years and we have now got ourselves back on track to fix the economy. We are the Party to reduce debt and taxes and allow business to prosper.
