Salisbury MP slams 'budget of broken promises'

John Glen has accused the Government of hiding their true plans

Author: Aaron HarperPublished 31st Oct 2024

Salisbury MP John Glen has slammed the Government's budget as a 'budget of broken promises'.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a budget on Wednesday to raise £40bn through tax rises.

But the Shadow Paymaster General has accused the Prime Minister and Chancellor of not telling the truth ahead of July's election.

Mr Glen said: "I think the striking thing for most people is the fact that they didn't tell the truth to the British people.

"There's broken promise after broken promise. There's 40 billion of extra taxes and labour promised they would not raise taxes on working people. But they've imposed a 25 billion tax on working people by increasing the National Insurance."

The South Wiltshire MP added that constituents will be feeling let down.

"Many of my colleagues lost their seats across the country on the basis that there was nothing to worry about, taxes weren't going to go up, and that isn't what happened. It will have a profound effect on the growth of the economy," Mr Glen said.

He said the increased minimum wage is going to cause major issues, telling Greatest Hits Radio 'somebody's got to pay for that'.

Mr Glen told us that either prices will go up and inflation figures will also increase, as well as business owners will be asking questions too.

"People were saying 'if I've got to pay, you know 6.7% extra in my wage bill, who can I not employ? Am I going to actually make somebody redundant?'"

He added that there will be 'major consequences' for investment and growth, with public sector reform needed.

"Without public sector reform and productivity reforms, you know, the public sector productivity is the key challenge, without having those as well as extra funding, this money could be wasted."

Following the biggest budget in British history, Mr Glen said the OBR (Office of Budget Responsibility) said growth over the next five years is down 0.7% on predictions made in March.

He added the commitment to spending more than £20bn on the NHS has it's own risks.

"I think that the danger is that they will waste a lot of money and borrowing costs will go up and waste more money on servicing the borrowing that had and a very uncertain future for investment."

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