Last week’s budget will come as a major disappointment for many people across the United Kingdom, particularly in Wales.
It was always going to be a budget of increased taxation and devastating cuts, but the reality of this budget will cut deep.
What is clear, is that this budget is nothing but a cash grab from this new Labour government who seem to love nothing more than spending other people’s money, even when they promise not to.
Labour’s pledge not to raise tax on working people clearly was not worth the paper it was written on and is disingenuous at best.
The tax rises affecting small businesses are most definitely a tax on working people, as is the new tax on family farms. The latter will deal a particularly crushing blow to rural communities across Wales.
As I have said many times before, the hike in employers’ national insurance will dampen business growth as hiring new staff becomes more and more expensive.
Businesses in Wales are already faced with the highest business rates in Great Britain with small businesses paying the same rate as larger ones.
Making it more expensive to hire employees will make it harder for people in Wales to find a job while also stopping businesses from growing and reaching their full potential.
While there is some extra money for the NHS, we need to ensure that every penny spent is used effectively in cutting NHS waiting lists which have gotten out of control.
It seems as if, no matter how much extra funding our NHS gets, waiting lists just continue to rise, so clearly, we need better management as well as spending.
Sadly, the Winter Fuel Payment cut, supported by every Labour MP here in Wales, is here to stay.
This is a move that risks creating a fuel poverty crisis amongst our elderly population here in Wales. The Welsh Conservatives have called on Labour to reverse this damaging cut and ensure that our pensioners do not have to choose between heating and eating this winter.
I hope that Labour Ministers in Cardiff Bay will now stand up for the people of Wales and stop their colleagues from continuing to raid people’s pockets and cutting support for our elderly population.
I am glad that we have a new and strong Conservative Leader in Westminster to hold this appalling Labour Government to account as we do here in Wales.
Peter Fox MS - Monmouth
