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Government fails hard working families in the Budget

Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham says the Chancellor has missed his Budget target of benefitting the poorest working people in our communities whilst handing out tax cuts to the rich, which for many, are worth tens of thousands of pounds.

He criticised the Tory-led government for also failing to deal with the needs of the British people by boosting jobs and growth and to do anything of substance to help get the million young people who are not in employment, education or training.

Alex said:

“The Government’s claim that raising the personal tax free allowance to £9, 205 is a fairer deal for the poor is a total farce.  It does nothing to help the third of the adult population such as part-time workers and pensioners who are too poor to pay income tax yet still have to face the huge increase in food, energy and other costs at the same time as cuts to tax credits, the child benefit freeze and higher VAT.

“What we needed was a budget to put money in the pockets of ordinary families and get the economy moving again.  What we got was a cut in the 50p rate that will only benefit the richest 1% and which will do virtually nothing to stimulate the real economy.

“I met Terry Fullerton from Holme House prison immediately after the budget today and he pointed out the tax cut for many of the super rich like bankers, celebrities and Government Ministers is about the same as the starting pay for a prison officer.  It is also several thousand pounds more than the average wage in my constituency.  That is not fair.

“There was nothing to support the one million young people unemployed; the measures to support the kind of jobs we need on Teesside were missing; and whilst there was some small support for business through tax changes, there was no big incentive to companies to expand and take on more people.

“The same old Tories, aided and abetted by the Liberal Democrats, have shown their true colours, introducing policies that will simply make the rich richer and the poor poorer.  It is a sad day for areas like Teesside”