PC 11: Budget

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Alex Cardigan
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Re: PC 11: Budget

Post by Alex Cardigan »

Labour's budget is unambitious, and that is most clearly displayed when you take a look at the Home Office. Compared to liberal proposals, Labour want to recruit thousands less police officers than we do, spend millions less on legal aid than we do, have a less well-funded security service than we do, and manage all this under the guise of responsibility! I say to the Chancellor, you know what's responsible? Investing properly in our police, security services, and justice system.
The Rt Hon. Alexander Simon "Alex" Cardigan MP
Deputy Leader of the Opposition (2015 to present)
MP for Kensington (1974 to present)
Secretary of State for International Development (2010 to 2015) | Shadow Secretary of State for International Development (2005 to 2010) | Shadow Secretary of State for Trade (1997 to 1999) | Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1995 to 1997) | Secretary of State for National Heritage (1992 to 1995) | Minister for Schools (1990 to 1992) | Minister for Foreign Affairs (1979 to 1981)
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Andy Edwards
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Re: PC 11: Budget

Post by Andy Edwards »

The Government's budget is responsible when it comes to investing- and in making sure that there are resources available for those that need it. This Government is living up to our promises to victims- not only have we passed a Victims' Bill of Rights, but we've made sure it's actually funded so those who suffer through no fault of their own can at least be given some support. And across the Home Office, the funding decisions we made are prudent and there to support services that people depend on.

It's easy to say that we should hire more police and throw more and more money at things- but that's not what works. We'll work with the police authorities throughout the country to make sure they can get the resources they need while they focus on keeping people safe rather than just try to burden them with more money and more officers that they're not ready for. We'll work with legal aid providers to make sure we can continue to responsibly grow the availability of solicitors and barristers and that we can reach out to those that need it, rather than just throwing more money at the problem.

Our investments in security are what we promised and what the people voted for: more officers, better aid, and making sure that those that keep us safe and man our prisons are adequately paid for their work. We'll be able to continue these investments for year after year- because unlike some we're not trying to throw too much money to just cut back later.
Andrew Edwards MP
MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston (1992-) | Labour
Secretary of State for the Home Office (2001-)
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Will Frost
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Re: PC 11: Budget

Post by Will Frost »

In my budget response on the floor of the House of Commons, I made it clear that this budget was the result of a series of intentional choices, choices that will leave working people and small business worse off. The Chancellor and the Prime Minister he works for had the power to give you back more of the money you work for, and to allow business owners to keep more of the profits they work to earn, but they chose not to. This budget was a choice, as is every decision the Government makes, and with it the Chancellor made clear his desire to prioritize his personal spending projects over the wellbeing of hard working British people.

In our Shadow Budget, the Conservatives will choose to give you back more of the money you earn, to unleash the full potential of British business and entrepreneurs, and to build a modern society we can all be proud of. We'll choose to back the British people, because that's the right thing to do.
Last edited by Will Frost on Wed Jan 20, 2021 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: PC 11: Budget

Post by Will Frost »

Of all the Chancellor's abject failures in this budget, there is possible no greater mistake than their proposed allocation for flood-prevention funding. After the devastating floods that wreaked havoc upon communities across England in 2000, the Government ordered Defra and the Institute for Civil Engineers to commission a report into what steps needed to be taken to properly defend our country for future floods. They told us plainly that £80 million represented the bare minimum of funding that was necessary just to keep the existing infrastructure from crumbling - shockingly, the Chancellor has allocated less than half of that amount. The Prime Minister has made "listening to the experts," a hallmark of her time in office, yet it is increasingly clear that the Labour Party is only interested in listening to the experts when it suits their political ambitions. This budget provided a real chance to protect towns and communities across England from the threat of future floods; the Government knew what was required of them and they knew how much money it would take. They just didn't rise to the occasion.
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David Malkin
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Re: PC 11: Budget

Post by David Malkin »

Mr. Croft hit the nail on the head in response to the Chancellor's budget speech. The Labour Party had the choice to seriously reduce the tax burden faced by working people and small business across the country, and they made the conscious decision not to. This is par for the course from a Labour Government that believes they know how to spend people's money better than they do, and that the taxpayer should be perpetually prepared to cough up whatever is necessary in order to fund the Chancellor's vanity projects. We need a Government that is capable of truly supporting British entrepreneurs and creating a low tax economy, neither of which they seem prepared to do.
David Malkin
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Re: PC 11: Budget

Post by David Malkin »

Funding increases alone are not enough, and Mr. Croft was right to point out that higher funding should be paired with structural reform of our public services in order to ensure they work better and use taxpayer money more efficiently. The Chancellor's budget throws more money at the problems they have been trying to fix for the past four years, employing the same directionless strategy that has failed to deliver any meaningful results. We need a change in direction, a new approach, and we need it now. Violent crime is on the rise, and Labour still hasn't hired enough police to make up for the ones they sacked since coming to power. Truancy is on the rise, and yet Labour failed to dedicate any new spending to initiatives aimed at reducing it. The Government's promised to adhere to the Strategic Defense Review, and then refused to recruit the recommended number of soldiers. Labour's tired strategy of managing expectations and paving over the cracks is just not good enough, and I believe the British people deserve so much better.
David Malkin
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Daniel North CBE
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Re: PC 11: Budget

Post by Daniel North CBE »

This is the William Croft I voted for: decisive, firm, and taking Labour to task over their record of failure. **Mr. Croft has set out his case to lead an alternative Government, one that fundamentally believes in creating a low-tax economy that takes money out of state coffers and puts it directly into the hands of the British people.** I agree with him entirely; history has proven that money is best spent by hardworking, entrepreneurial individuals than by a bureaucratic state agency. The Chancellor's budget is a continuation of the status quo, offering minor changes to tax policy and giving people slightly more in pre-tax income. When the British people pay tax, however, they will be paying the exact same income rate as they were last year. Labour isn't providing tax relief, they're providing a one time hand out in the hopes of earning a boost in the polls.
The Rt Hon. Mr Francis Balnain MP
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Will Frost
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Re: PC 11: Budget

Post by Will Frost »

Labour MPs are currently working over time in the press to argue that I have it wrong when it comes to my view on the Chancellor's budget; I don't blame them, that's their job. My job as Leader of the Opposition, however, is to look past the spin and the smokescreen of rhetoric and expose this budget for what it really is: a series of broken promises and missed opportunities to truly give our economy the boost it needs. Choices were made by this Chancellor, and while I respect his commitment to the British people, the Conservative Party believes that many of the choices he made were the wrong ones. Failing to honor the Strategic Defense Review was a mistake. Failing to commit to Defra's report on funding needs for flood protection was a mistake. Not actually reducing any rate of income tax was a mistake. The Chancellor had the power and ability to make his first budget one that would allow British people to keep substantially more of what they earn, not just this year but for years to come. His failure to use the budget to fundamentally alter our tax code in order to cultivate a high growth, low tax economy was a mistake. These failures must be made clear to the British people, and I intend on continuing to do just that.
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Rebecca Flair
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Re: PC 11: Budget

Post by Rebecca Flair »

There is no denying that the country is in a better place now than it was in 1997, but it could hardly be in a worse place to be quite honest. The Government's continuing subservience to the notion of a budget surplus that must be bigger and better than that which came before it so that they can pretend to be responsible is what risks putting our country in reverse at precisely the wrong time. A surplus for the sake of a surplus is pointless, it only exists to continue existing, spending that money on public services and reducing the tax burden on all Britons is what this country needs now.
Rebecca Flair
MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale 2010 - Present

Leader of the Liberal Democrats 2015 - Present
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Rebecca Flair
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Re: PC 11: Budget

Post by Rebecca Flair »

This Budget sets up over 200 photo opportunities, that's over 200 Labour MPs who will be able to open a clinic or a school in their constituency. But when the cameras have gone those clinics will need to be filled with equipment for the doctors to use, they'll need stethoscopes and MRI machines, our schools will need to be maintained as well or we will fall back towards the dark days of Conservative Britain with crumbling school infrastructure. Why then has the Government invested in all these new clinics and schools if they have frozen the maintenance and procurement budgets in real terms? Where will they get the funds to open and maintain these critical new investments? It's time for Labour to get serious, there are no more Tory spending programmes to copy, so they have got to think of this stuff for themselves.
Rebecca Flair
MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale 2010 - Present

Leader of the Liberal Democrats 2015 - Present
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