I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton) on her excellent maiden speech in this Budget debate.
How could the Chancellor devise a Budget that was so out of touch with the problems facing our country? In the context of a cost of living crisis that is sweeping our nation, devastating household budgets and squeezing already low wages, the Government have offered very little in this Budget to help ordinary working people. It is clear that the Government are out of touch and out of time.
When I meet my Slough constituents, they are concerned about paying their bills, earning a fair wage, having an affordable roof over their heads and keeping their families safe. In my regular advice surgeries—five a month, including on a Sunday morning—constituents do not come to me asking for less to be done to tackle modern slavery, for the richest to get a tax cut, or for the economy to stagnate. Yet that is exactly what is being delivered by 13 years of Tory government. It is Tory MPs’ priorities over the public’s priorities.
Even when it comes to addressing real issues that matter to those who are struggling, the Chancellor’s announcements were woefully inadequate. On childcare, he has announced measures that will not be fully up and running until after an election, long after the Tories will, I hope, have been booted out of power by the British people. There is no real plan to magic up extra capacity to cater for the additional provision that has been promised. On pensions, their gift to the top 1% prioritises those who need it least. It is a nearly £1 billion giveaway to benefit only a small number of high-earning individuals.
The Government have tried to copy and paste Labour policy on energy bills, but they have implemented too little too late; they are failing our country and all they have managed to come up with is a windfall tax that has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese. At every turn, the Budget creates inequalities and solidifies the failures of the past 13 years. The Government are creating a stagnant economy. There is a chronic lack of ambition among Ministers. It is not just Opposition parties who highlight the continued failures. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast shows that the UK’s current account deficit will be just above 6% of GDP—the widest gap since the
1940s. According to the CBI, we are investing five times less in green industries than Germany and roughly half what France and the USA invest. The highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies has heavily criticised the lack of long-term certainty provided in the Budget, calling the lack of strategy “damaging”.
In critical business centres such as Slough, this has a real impact. We are proud to be home to Europe’s largest trading estate in single ownership and some of the country’s most iconic and influential brands, which rely on responsible stewardship of the economy.
We have a potential labour force of 2.6 million people living within an hour’s drive. We have the highest GDP per capita in the country, for a unitary authority. This has all been achieved in spite of the Government, not because of them.
We must truly harness our business power, and ensure that local communities reap the benefits, particularly as we build back from the pandemic, yet businesses are struggling more than ever. This lack of ambition and the Government’s persistent underfunding of vital services has left constituents short-changed, paying for Government incompetence. Under the Tories, UK Government funding for Slough Borough Council has been slashed to less than half of what it was in 2010. It is no wonder that local councils up and down our country are struggling under this Government’s watch. These cuts leave constituents desperate to see investment in tackling issues that they face every single day—crime, NHS waiting lists and housing shortages. Where were the measures to tackle this, when house building has halved in 50 years, forecasts show that mortgage rates will be twice as high for my constituents as they were in 2021 and house prices have risen to eight times an average salary? Those are all problems of the Government’s own making, all being ignored by our Chancellor. It is all slogans and no substance.
My constituents can see right through this facade. People can see the difference when they pay for their weekly shop, try to use cash-strapped public services, or check their bank accounts. They can see who the Government have prioritised in this Budget. There have been endless failures on crime, housing, bills, wages and growing our economy, but there is a better way. Labour will ensure the highest sustained growth in the G7, creating good jobs and boosting productivity in every corner of the UK—all things my constituents rely on for a better quality of life, and something that they so richly deserve.
3.59 pm