Somerset politicians react to Chancellor’s budget announcement

The Liberal Democrats have said residents will see through this “deception” by the Chancellor and that people don’t want more “empty promises” from this Conservative government while “local health services are left on their knees”.

The party’s parliamentary candidate for Taunton and Wellington, Gideon Amos, said: “This Budget will barely touch the sides for families and pensioners around here, who are facing soaring mortgage bills while the cost of the weekly shop goes through the roof.

“People in our area know that their tax bills will remain sky high after this budget, and the Chancellor is attempting a desperate deception after years of income tax hikes.

“People don’t want more Conservative empty promises while our local health services are left on their knees and Musgrove Park Hospital still hasn’t got the funding it was promised to replace its leaky buildings.

“They want proper change through a General Election so we can kick this Conservative government out of office.

“It’s clear the choice in Taunton and Wellington at the next election will be between an out-of-touch Conservative MP or a hard-working Liberal Democrat local champion.”

Taunton Deane MP Rebecca Pow said: “The last few years have not been easy for the British economy. We have faced the impacts of the Covid pandemic, and war in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“We know these challenges have made life tough for people across Taunton Deane and the Government has made progress, inflation has fallen from 11.1 per cent to 4.0 per cent, the economy has performed better than forecast, wages are rising, mortgage rates are beginning to come down, the economy has outperformed European neighbours and debt is on track to fall.

“Our plan is seeing the economy turn a corner which is why in the budget the Chancellor was able to deliver the average earner the lowest effective personal tax rate since 1975 - focusing on National Insurance cuts for thousands of hardworking families across Taunton Deane.

“From April, the main rate of employee National Insurance Contributions (NICs) will be cut from 10 per cent to 8 per cent and combined with the Autumn Statement last year, that is a tax cut of over £900 for the average worker.

“For the self-employed, of which there are many locally, Class 4 NICs will be cut from 9 per cent to 6 per cent giving a tax cut of around £650 for an average self-employed person.

“The Government is also supporting families with changes to the High Income Child Benefit Change, benefitting some parents by an average of £1,260.

“For a large number of small and medium-sized businesses in Taunton Deane the increase to the VAT registration threshold is welcome, together with the freeze on fuel duty and the freeze on alcohol duty.

“More generally the almost £6bn for the NHS productivity plan to streamline IT and digital services will save money, free up clinicians time to focus on patients and cut waiting times.

“This is something I particularly called for - it will be invaluable for our medical services in the area.

“While the job is of course not done, and many people are facing cost of living challenges the cumulative measures introduced to keep us on track for economic growth, and on track to get more people into work and ensure work pays.”