22/04/09 - 'Budget Is Nightmare Mix Of Rising Debt and Higher Taxes', Say Swindon Conservatives

This is a Dishonest Budget. From tonight, Britain’s families are facing higher taxes to pay for Labour's Debt Crisis. After a decade of economic mistakes, Gordon Brown is saddling this country with over £1 trillion of debt. Britain cannot afford another five years of Labour.

The Budget revealed today:

• Tax rises of £1000 on every family in Britain.
• Tax rises on everyone earning over £19,000
• Tax rises on all new jobs
• Higher taxes for motorists and responsible drinkers

The Labour Government was also forced to admit that Britain faces:

• The longest recession since World War II
• The fastest rise in unemployment on record
• A national debt that will double to £1.4 trillion – meaning every child in Britain is born owing £22,500

Like all Labour governments in history, New Labour has run out of money.

If the Conservatives had given this Budget, we would have got a grip on government spending, and used the savings from cutting waste to introduce real help now for families and pensioners:

• Freezing council tax for two years, worth over £200 for the typical family
• Abolishing income tax on savings for all basic rate taxpayers, worth up to £7,200 a year
• Raising the income tax threshold for pensioners, worth up to £400 a year
• Help for the unemployed to upskill and reskill during the recession - and tax breaks for companies who create new jobs.

Conservatives will tackle Labour’s debt crisis and deliver economic change for Britain.

Robert Buckland, Conservative parliamentary candidate for South Swindon, said, ''Labour's figures just don't add up.  Their predictions of future economic growth suggest they're living in a fantasy land.  Once you strip out those ludicrous projections, the whole of Alistair Darling's Budget unravels.  They're saddling future generations with a mountain of debt, and trying to pretend that an Old Labour-style tax rise will help solve the problem.

"And the much-vaunted car-scrapping scheme will make very little difference in the car industry which is such an important part of Swindon's economy.  The thousands of workers at Honda who've been hit by Labour's recession have a right to be angry that this Labour government has forgotten them.

"Overall, it's time for Gordon Brown to admit the game is up, and call a general election".

Justin Tomlinson, Conservative parliamentary candidate for North Swindon, said, ''This was a Budget which proves what we've been saying for a long time - Labour cannot be trusted with Britain's economy.  Conservative governments have had to bail out Britain after previous Labour nightmares, and we're ready to do it again.

"As a businessman who lives and works in Swindon, I know what it's like in the real world.  But Gordon Brown, and other Labour MPs in their Westminster bunker, have no idea what it's like, and that's why this budget was such a waste of time.  The amount of debt Labour are building up means Britain's books won't balance for at least ten years.  That's no way to run the economy, and no way to help the families, pensioners and savers in Swindon who I meet every day.

"This discredited, tired government has no idea how to cope with the mess which they created.  Let's have a general election now so that a Conservative government can start sorting out another economic mess created by Labour".