Week 17 - Budget and yet more sewage

The main event of the week in Parliament was Labour’s first budget.

Raising £40 billion is no easy task.  However, I’m not sure that raising the bulk of it through employer’s National Insurance will do what Labour wanted, and I am certainly sure that taxing inheritance of farms is going to cause huge issues.

Liberal Democrats have long said that we should reverse the tax breaks given to big banks, pursue windfall taxes on the exceptional profits at energy companies, and make sure that international technology companies pay their fair share as a first option. 

There was some protection for the very small companies that will take them out of being liable for the tax, but small to medium companies will be hard hit.

The other big issue with employer’s National Insurance is that it will hit care homes and local GPs and hospices.  The government provided extra funding for the NHS and other public sector organisations to cover the cost of the tax rise. However, GPs and the vast majority of care providers are private and so won't benefit from this help.

GPs and care providers are already in crisis, but the tax hike will add to the pressure by forcing small care providers and GPs to pay more in National Insurance Contributions. For some this extra cost may risk them shutting up shop.

My Lib Dem colleagues and I have called for crucial health and care services to be exempted from the NI hike.  

The capping of bus fares had been due to run out at Christmas this year, but adding the extra pound will impact, especially if you need to take multiple buses to get to your work or other destination.

We learnt in the 1930’s that Keynes’ theory of increasing public spending worked as a positive way to get out of the great depression.  The trick is to make sure that the Government spending is also based on long term thinking.

It is welcome to see funding for the NHS and some capital transport projects – although these are mostly in the North.  Nothing mentioned for transport in Devon sadly.  I will be asking more questions about the vital fifth phase of the Dawlish rail resilience – shoring up the cliffs between Dawlish and Teignmouth. 

And the change that is perhaps most worrying in our rural areas is the change to inheritance tax laws for farmers.  This runs the risk of traditional family farms being sold off and is a threat to our countryside and food security.

Sadly, we heard also from the Friends of the River Teign, after my exploits in sampling the water a few weeks ago, that the latest samples have shown significant contamination of E. coli in the river.  

I will be meeting with South West Water this week to demand action on these test results that showed the highest levels of contamination in the last decade.

There is a lot of work to do both from the new office and in parliament, I’ll let you know how we get on…