Rebecca Smith MP responds to Labour’s 2024 Budget
The Chancellor has delivered the Labour Government’s budget, outlining their spending plans for this Parliament and a £40bn tax increase. It came as no surprise to learn that it was a budget full of broken promises.
Throughout their General Election campaign, Labour promised they would not raise taxes on working people, yet they have imposed a whopping £25 billion tax on working people by increasing employer’s National Insurance contributions – as they raise the tax burden to the highest level in our country’s history.
Said Rebecca Smith, MP for South West Devon:
“I have real concerns that this National Insurance increase will be devastating for the thousands of small businesses across South West Devon, creating a knock-on effect on dampening down wages and raising prices at the tills.”
Capital gains tax, inherited pensions and VAT on school fees will all be hiked in the Chancellor’s £40bn tax raid, hitting hard working local people in the pocket. Stealth tax rises are set to cost an average household at least £10,000 across this Parliament.
Speaking directly about farmers, Rebecca said,
“In my opinion, the Chancellor’s choices spell the end to the family farm. An inheritance tax charge of 20% for any farm valued over £1 million, as well as land management and farming budget cuts, will deal a hammer blow to the ambition of maintaining viable farms and food security, any thoughts of leaving family farms to the next generation will be re-considered, and we run the risk of our vital farms being broken up for parcels of land. This spells disaster for South West Devon.”
Rebecca said:
“On growth, the Chancellor made a deliberate choice to ignore the Southwest. She announced a stream of infrastructure projects across the North and Midlands and it soon became clear that the Southwest would miss out. No mention of vital rail resilience required for the Dawlish train line. What about progressing plans for a Tavistock rail line? And where is the commitment to Derriford Hospital’s Urgent and Emergency Care facility?”
She added:
“I have campaigned vigorously for the Government to honour the HS2 funding re-allocated for the proposed Tavistock Line’s business case and for further funding to complete the Dawlish railway strengthening works and will continue to do so as a member of the Transport Committee. It was disappointing to hear these projects ignored.”
Disappointedly speaking on the NHS spending announcement Rebecca said:
“An additional £22.6bn NHS spending was announced, yet still no solid commitment for the region’s Derriford Hospital, kicking its new Urgent and Emergency Care facility even further into the long grass until at least January. Fearing that the Urgent and Emergency Care facility would be abandoned by Labour, I launched my petition to save the funding for the centre, and presented this in Parliament on Monday prior to the budget.”
She added:
“You simply cannot trust Labour. They promised fifty times during the General Election that they wouldn’t raise taxes. The Labour Government’s budget has resulted in the biggest set of tax rises in British history outside of a recession. Ultimately, this Budget punishes the hardest working people in our society and more locally, our small business owners and farmers will feel the greatest burden from the Chancellor’s decisions. The Chancellor spent the entire speech talking down the country and has condemned us to higher taxes, higher borrowing and lower growth.”
On homes and housing, the Chancellor announced a stamp duty rise on second homes, which Rebecca fears will impact the rental market supply and believes it will be renters who will pay the price overall.
First-time home buyers will be disproportionately affected when they have to pay thousands more on stamp duty from 1st April next year as the duty threshold reverts back to £300,000 from £425,000.
And the Government’s failure to tackle child benefit reform head-on, means more bad news for single earner or single parent families. Instead of making the child benefit system fairer, as the former Conservative Government proposed, Labour have chosen not to base the high-income child benefit on household incomes.
On fuel duty Rebecca said;
“At least the Chancellor listened to constituents’ concerns about fuel duty which I raised directly with her. It continues to be frozen meaning no additional costs at the pump.”
Concerned about how the budget will affect her constituents, Rebecca is encouraging constituents to get in touch to share their thoughts with her.
email: [email protected]
tel: 01752 335 666
