Local Labour MP Alex Cunningham today criticised the Deputy Prime Minister for failing to stick to his promise that the Coalition Government would offer ‘Fair Cuts’.
Liberal Democrats are gathered in Liverpool for the party’s annual conference and many grassroots activists are planning to tackle Clegg about the cuts he has signed the party up to.
In an article is today’s Guardian, former Lib Dem MP Evan Harris states that the Deputy Prime Minister has made a ‘major error’ by talking of fair cuts.
Indeed, analysis published in August by the Institute of Fiscal Studies disputed the claim that June’s Emergency Budget, endorsed by the Liberal Democrats, was progressive. On average, the cuts and benefit changes announced in the Budget hit the poorest households more than those in the upper-middle income bracket.
Speaking today, Alex said:
“The Deputy Prime Minister will to struggle to explain to his party why they should support regressive measures such as cuts to housing benefit. 3500 households in Stockton on Tees will each lose around £8 per a week (£468 a year) in a one bed property and £36 per week (£1872 a year) in a five Bed property, according to government figures, as a result of changes to housing benefit announced in the Budget for people living in privately rented houses.”
“With the results of the Comprehensive Spending Review due to be announced on the 20th October, things are set to get much worse for Clegg, as he struggles to convince the party faithful that these huge, Tory cuts, can be justified.”
“The most recent polls show that support for the Liberal Democrats has fallen to just 15%. With local elections less than a year away, Lib Dems in Stockton must be worried.”
