What incentive is there for hardworking families and young entrepreneurs to stay in Britain after this Budget?
That’s what a resident asked me at a recent community meeting in Wixams, and it stuck with me. With only three minutes for my Budget speech in the Chamber, I couldn’t say everything I wanted to, so here is the rest.
A constituent who spoke to me and his family have built and grown two hospitality businesses in Bedfordshire and employs dozens of local people.
Under Labour, their rent has risen over 130 per cent in eighteen months, and their employment, energy and supplier costs keep climbing.
They have had to let nine staff go and now think twice about hiring anyone young – because of decisions made by the Government.
Lynne at The Fir Tree Inn in Aspley Heath told me the same, as did the owners of Rascals in Woburn and Fratelli Cichetti in Ampthill.
So, I was dismayed when the Chief Secretary to the Treasury suggested employers are not considered working people by this Government. If they are not, I don’t know who is.
Young people pay the price
The employers who give them a first chance have been hit by three Labour budgets. Unemployment is 1.7 million, up 276,000 under this government; vacancies are at their lowest since 2014, and over a million young people are not in work or education.
Many can’t find a job, let alone save for a first home.
A decent society always supports those who cannot work. But every pound spent on welfare for someone who won’t work is a pound taken from someone who does.
The OBR expects welfare spending to reach £431 billion by 2031/32. We cannot become a welfare state with an economy attached, and the Chancellor should have set out a plan to cut it.
The next Conservative government would use the savings to end the £100,000 childcare cliff edge, halve the jobs tax for young people, which would help around 1,200 young people in Mid Bedfordshire who are not in work or education, and abolish stamp duty on the family home, which adds £8,625 to the price of an average home.
Lord O’Neill dismissed Andy Burnham’s plans for good growth in every postcode as “slight lunacy” without a focus on borrowing costs.
This is managed decline dressed up as breathing space. Growth comes from businesses, not governments, and I hope the next Budget is far braver.
This is a monthly guest column provided by
Blake Stephenson, Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire.
It is published unedited and does not
reflect the views of the Bedford Independent.
