A Budget for Who?

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chancellor with red budget briefcaseYou may have seen George Osborne deliver his Budget last month.  But while the Conservatives continue to trumpet about the success of their long-term economic plan, many people I speak to in Northfield just aren’t feeling a recovery at all.

On 16 March I went on BBC Sunday Politics West Midlands to explain why the Chancellor is out of touch with the cost of living crisis facing local people. For many years, when the economy grew, most people got better off with it. But for the first time in living memory working people will be worse off – an average £1,600 a year – at the end of a parliament than at the start. This Government have quite simply failed millions of ordinary people.

There is another choice. Labour is determined to get the deficit down in a fair way, and ensure we can earn our way to higher living standards for the future. For example, a Labour budget would have reversed this government’s tax cut for millionaires, and introduced a lower 10p starting rate of tax for 24 million people on low and middle incomes. We would also provide 25 hours of free childcare to support families facing a huge squeeze on their time and their pockets.

The Conservatives say the cost of living crisis doesn’t exist, but everybody else is living through it every day.  Sadly, the Chancellor – a beneficiary of the millionaires’ tax cut, just like his friends in the city – didn’t mention this when he opened his red box.

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Richard Burden

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I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.

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You can reach me by email at richard@richardburden.com or use the form on the Contact page to send me a message.