I rose in the House of Commons Chamber on Monday 13th March to make a contribution to one of the debates on the Budget.
I praised the Chancellor for his commitment to investing in technical skills, broadband and transport infrastructure, and social care. I also addressed the popularly held view that the Government is cutting funding to important public services. I drew attention to the fact that Government spending has increased by 9% since the last Labour Government and is expected to reach £800 billion by 2018. I pointed out that government spending was £754 billion last year versus £716 billion five years ago and stated that in the last five years alone spending has increased by more than £11billion on the NHS, £7billion on transport, £4billion on education and £13billion on welfare and pensions. I acknowledged that there had been spending cuts in certain departments and that myself and fellow MPs were likely to continue to disagree on how government money was spent and whether it was enough, but challenged the widely held assumption that government spending overall was being cut.
Referring to the debate’s theme – “Britain’s place in the world” – I lamented a missed opportunity in the Budget, which was a response to Scotland’s planned cuts to Air Passenger Duty (APD) in England. The Scottish Government is set to cut APD by 50% as early next year and I said that this will put English airports at a competitive disadvantage and implored the Chancellor to include this in the November budget. Ialso welcomed the Treasury’s review of business rates and said that “taxes like business rates have had their day” given the increasing move to online shopping and that business taxes needed to be fairer to companies that had a physical presence on the High Street versus the likes of Amazon.
I was glad of the opportunity to both praise the good work of the Chancellor and draw his and other Minister’s attention to some issues that will need addressing going forward.