Political Opinion: Budget gives with one hand but takes far more with the other

On the doorstep last weekend in High Peak people were telling me they feel poorer, with food, energy and mortgage bills up and wages falling behind and going less far.

Not one person was fooled by the claims of tax cuts. The truth is the Conservatives are giving with one hand but taking far more with the other. They might be cutting National Insurance but they are raising twice as much freezing personal tax thresholds. This will particularly hurt pensioners who on average will be hundreds of pounds worse off because they will not benefit from the National Insurance reduction.

These attempts at slight of hand are further undermining trust in politicians, which has understandably been lost after Party Gate in Downing Street and fake newspapers being delivered down our streets here in High Peak.

It’s time for change

We all know we literally cannot afford to go on like this. So how will Labour be different if it wins the next election?

Our long-term plan to grow our economy will deliver more jobs, more investment and put more money in your pocket.

We’ll put economic stability first by introducing new rules to stop a repeat of the devastation of the Liz Truss and the Conservative mini-budget that crashed the economy and left working people worse off.

A Labour Government would kickstart economic growth, by backing British businesses like the quarries in High Peak. We’ll work with business to create a new industrial strategy, creating a National Wealth Fund to unlock billions of pounds of private investment. And we’ll reform planning laws to deliver the infrastructure needed for business to grow and invest - like transport, clean energy, and new industries.

We’ll launch a skills revolution with a new generation of Technical Excellence Colleges, offering more high-quality apprenticeships and training opportunities tailored to local jobs.

And we have a plan to make us proud of our towns again. Our high streets should be the beating heart of our towns. But under this Government they’ve gone into decline, with shuttered shops and increasing anti-social behaviour. We will scrap business rates, enable local communities to regenerate town centres by taking control of empty shops. And we’ll tackle anti-social behaviour by recruiting 13,000 more community police and introduce new town centre police patrols.

It’s time for change and here in High Peak only Labour can deliver it.