Claire Young: Spring Statement is a missed opportunity

Following today’s Spring Statement, local Liberal Democrat MP Claire Young has said that the Chancellor “missed the opportunity” to deliver the change needed in Thornbury & Yate by scrapping the jobs tax and reforming business rates.

The Spring Statement confirms that taxes will rise on small businesses through the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions, all while those living with disabilities are hit with even harsher cuts to the support they receive than were initially announced last week.

Claire Young has instead urged the Labour Government to make big banks, social media giants, and online gambling companies to pay their fair share instead of “hammering” those who can afford it the least – warning the cuts could end up costing more in the long run.

The Lib Dem MP also added that the Spring Statement showed “that the Government doesn’t understand our rural community at all” by failing to reverse the damaging family farm tax and has pledged to keep fighting for our rural communities.

Thornbury & Yate MP Claire Young said:

“Across our area families are already struggling with eye-watering bills, businesses are being squeezed by rising taxes, and our public services are crumbling all around us. 

“This Spring Statement was a chance for this government to turn things around, but instead it will just inflict more pain and suffering on our small businesses, leave us with even more threadbare public services, and hit disabled people with painful cuts.

“Today the Chancellor missed her chance to deliver the change and growth we need. The statement she delivered is a missed opportunity, repeating the mistakes of the past and leaving us facing even more painful cuts in the years ahead.  

“Rachel Reeves has also shown that the Government doesn’t understand our rural communities at all. By doubling down on the family farm tax, she is hammering the very people who grow food for our tables and act as key allies in our fight to tackle persistent flooding.

“I and the Liberal Democrats will campaign for the Government to urgently change course and act in a fairer way, raising the money needed to drive growth from the banking, technology, and gambling giants, not our small countryside businesses and local farmers.”