An opinion piece from Marisa Heath, the Conservative Parliamentary Spokesperson for Dorking & Horley.
Labour lies
Rishi Sunak tried to warn us and now we see the full horror of what Labour planned all along, but lied to the public about before the election. Massive tax hikes, massive borrowing, and a spending spree which will not fix the NHS, not support the elderly, not support business, and not benefit our economy.
I felt very despondent indeed listening to the budget yesterday. Not just as a Conservative but as a small business owner, as someone who has worked to save and pay my own way, and as someone who has been let down by the NHS - which was rewarded by even more cash - £22 billion of it.
No real plan for the NHS
Rachel Reeves appears to be throwing money at the NHS, but what is her the plan for reform? Where is the plan to tackle the issues that are plaguing the NHS, including education and preventative measures around modern chronic diseases, poor management practices and inefficiencies, and where is the plan for Adult Social Care?
Labour is attempting to cover all of these tax rises by using the NHS to justify the pain of the budget yet the spend on the health service rose 15%, even during the years of austerity while local council and welfare budgets were almost halved and transport was slashed by more than 60%. We continue to reward poor performance in the NHS and bow down to it sucking in huge amounts of public money despite record low productivity and performance.
This is not to undermine some excellence within the NHS, some of the staff are beyond amazing and contrary to Labour’s narrative the entire NHS is not broken, there are parts of it that are continuing to save people’s lives and delivering world class treatment. Nonetheless, the majority of Surrey residents are not getting the service they are paying for through their increasingly high taxes.
Politics of envy
Adding VAT on private education is nothing more than the politics of envy. Labour wants to punish those who actually help the state system by paying their taxes AND paying separately for their children’s education. Labour is trying to remove choice, and ultimately wants destroy private schools, which will have a devastating effect on state schools when families have to move their children into the state sector schools. And, by the way, many larger schools stand to benefit from reclaimed VAT on buildings etc, so this tax could actually have a negative effect on the taxpayer.
Hammering businesses affects us all
The huge hikes in employers National Insurance will dramatically affect businesses, particularly those with high staff costs. Workers will end up receiving lower or no wage increases, some businesses already on the edge will go bust, and some businesses will be forced to increase prices to the consumer – you and me.
The pain will continue for years
These tax rises are not a one-off ‘pain now’ fix, as Labour would have us believe. They will damage business, the economy, and the country for years to come.
As a Conservative, I continue to feel very uncomfortable that we have the highest taxes on record. As a nation we are seen to be unwelcoming to those with wealth coming here and spending their money within our cities, towns and general communities. Labour can never get their head around the idea of money circulating the economy without their grubby hands having been on it. The idea that if people have money in their pockets, they will spend it in restaurants, on clothes, new cars and houses and this means employments and wages across construction, decorating, small shops, catering and leisure. This is too much about freedom and choice for Labour’s liking. Their ideological hatred of the so-called wealthy is clear in the absurd retrospective tax to catch leaving non-doms even before the new rules come in next April that they added in to the budget yesterday. It is also clear in their 20% VAT on independent schools. Both of these measures will drive wealth away and won’t raise the money they envision.
For residents of Dorking & Horley, we have several issues arising from this budget. Let me list just four as a start:
1) Small business - this is a constituency with a very high number of self-employed, small business owners and entrepreneurs and this budget has not helped them in the slightest, indeed it has made it harder with increased NI and more worker’s rights coming through. Why would they bother to grow, to employ more people and to take on more contacts when the tax take means they won’t get any return from it?
PS all of you small business owners and entrepreneurs do not count as “working people” according to Labour. I am one of them!
2) Inheritance tax - this is a constituency with lots of families who have worked and saved to build nest eggs for their children. Increased inheritance tax is going to hit them hard. Why should they be further taxed on money on which they have already been taxed?
PS all of you who have worked your whole lives and are now in retirement or working in your community do not count as “working people” either according to Labour!
3) Farmers tax - this is a constituency with a lot of small holdings and farms. Farms will now be limited to £1m for inheritance tax relief removing the next generation’s ability to carry on farming and seeing some farmers forced to sell land to pay the tax. That also comes with huge risk to the rest of Surrey in land being used for housing, solar and whatever else.
PS it sounds like Labour don’t think farmers count as “working people” either…
4) Capital gains - this constituency is a place where people have saved and thought hard about how they pay for their old age so the capital gains tax levied on profits on assets including stocks and shares, second homes, buy-to-lets and some personal possessions rising for basic tax payers from 10% to 18% will be a blow to many.
PS Those of you who save your money and try to invest smartly also do not count as “working people” regardless of the fact you are trying to save the Government money long-term on social services and care.
Put all of this on top of the fact that Labour want to throw thousands of new homes up around us and it is painting a rather ugly picture. We have the highest taxes ever now and we also have the high energy bills coming around the corner with no help from Government this time and elderly residents in particular falling ill from cold. This is the worst nightmare for many middle income, hardworking families and means the typical Surrey resident is just going to be squeezed yet again.
The Liberal Democrats have not fought for us or said anything helpful. They just seem to let Labour do whatever they like. Chocolate and teapot spring to mind. A vote for the Lib Dems will get you Labour.
So what are we Conservatives locally and nationally going to do about this?
Rishi Sunak exposed just how shambolic the budget is in his speech yesterday. Say what you like about him but he does understand tax, growth and finance and he had turned our economy in the right direction before the Election.
The Conservatives under their new leader in the next day needs to start thinking hard about what a growth budget looks like and putting forward proposals to give us some faith in a better future, where fairness sits at the absolute centre.
Fairness means if you work hard you get to keep more money, that your taxes pay for services that actually serve you and recognise you are the customer, that when you have worked your whole life to build up savings or capital from your taxed income you get to keep that and pass it onto your loved ones and that we do not reward poor performance and failure to deliver. Fairness needs to be at the centre of everything a Government does and my view we are very far off that currently.
Locally, we will put pressure on the new leader to come up with a budget that works for the residents of Dorking & Horley, that recognises hard work and rewards it. We have members in our Association who understand tax affairs well and we will be holding policy forums to work through ideas for a fairer future under a Conservative Government.
So if you are not a “working person” if you are someone Labour has totally ignored in this budget, and I would say that is a huge percentage of Dorking & Horley residents, come and join us!
