- National Insurance cut for 27 million working people and for two million self-employed from April this year
- Helping approximately 500,000 families by making child benefit support fairer
- Cuts to capital gains tax on property
- Cutting taxes for small businesses by lifting the VAT registration threshold to £90,000
- Extended fuel duty freeze for 14th consecutive year helping drivers at the pumps
- Extended the freeze on alcohol duty to February 2025, helping local pubs
- Further investment of £5.85 billion in the NHS, with a particular focus on improving productivity so doctors and nurses can focus more on patients
- UK economic growth forecasts revised up for 2024 and 2025
Louie French, Member of Parliament for Old Bexley and Sidcup, has welcomed today's Budget by the Chancellor, which aims to cut taxes and help millions of people and businesses across the UK.
Having spent over £300 billion helping businesses and families survive the economic shock caused by the global pandemic and a further £100 billion helping people with the cost of living challenges directly linked to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Chancellor was always likely to be limited in what taxes could be cut today.
But a clear direction of travel has been set by the Conservatives, with a further cut in national insurance coming in April that will save the average worker £900 this year, plus some of the measures highlighted above.
These measures are only possible because we have made good progress over the past year: inflation has fallen from 11% to 4.0%, the economy has performed better than previously forecast, average wages are rising more than inflation, the economy has outperformed European neighbours and debt is on track to fall as a share of the economy over the medium term.
That is why, having stuck to our plan, this Government is cutting taxes for working people – to ensure we incentivise work and boost growth. The Chancellor announced that, from 6 April, Employee National Insurance would be cut by another 2% on top of the 2% cut in January. That means a family with two earners on the average salary of £35,400 each will be better off by £1,827; in fact, an average full-time nurse will also be better off by £1,053.
This in direct contrast to what Labour would likely do if in Government and what they do in London already - raise taxes!
Disgracefully, Sadiq Khan continues to raise taxes on hard working Londoners, with his share of our council tax rising by a staggering 71% or approximately £200 to a total of £471.40 this year. And that's before we even talk about the ongoing hammering of London motorists and small businesses through the likes of ULEZ, 20MPH zones and the proposed Blackwall Tunnel Toll, which is costing drivers hundreds of millions of pound that Labour and Sadiq Khan then waste on press officers, beach parties or his failed friend the so called "Night Tsar".
Also in the Budget, the Chancellor announced that the Government is investing £3.4 billion in the NHS in technology to cut administration and speed up diagnosis. This could save up to £35 billion in the future. We’re improving productivity in the NHS so staff can focus on getting patients the care they need more quickly. This Government has already invested record numbers of resources in the NHS, with 42,600 more doctors and 71,700 more nurses since 2010 and the first ever long-term workforce plan. But he didn’t stop there, the Chancellor also announced that we are going even further by protecting the NHS budget this coming year with an extra £2.45 billion.
As local Conservatives, we have a proud record of championing our NHS: the late James Brokenshire MP alongside local campaigners helped save Queen Mary’s Hospital from the risk of closure under the last Labour Government, and James was essential to securing many of the excellent modern services in Sidcup, such as the new cancer and kidney centres at our hospital. Since Louie was elected just over two years ago, he has worked tirelessly to secure more than £9.5 million of investment into Queen Mary’s for a new, state of the art Community Diagnostics Centre, which when open early next year will help further transform our beloved hospital and provide more than 58,000 additional diagnostic tests (bloods, X-ray, MRI) for patients every year from Sidcup.
This will also help take pressures of local A&Es, such as Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), which the Government has also funded £10.6m to create 50 new ward beds to speed up A&E times from this summer, a new imaging department with new MRI and CT scanners helping treat an extra 300 patients each week and QEH has just opened a new Same Day Emergency Care Unit to again help treat people more quickly.
As Conservatives, we want to see further tax cuts for hardworking people, which Louie believes can be delivered through economic growth and better public spending and productivity. The Bank of England also has a key role to play in terms of monetary policy and Louie believes they should be cutting interest rates ASAP to help businesses and mortgage owners.
