Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Anna Firth Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

It is wonderful to be called so early in this debate. I rise to pay tribute to the Chancellor and the whole Treasury team for delivering a serious Budget for serious times.

This Budget will inject international confidence, credibility and stability into our economy. It lays out a plan for sustainable growth while not forgetting my hard-working families in Southend West, who are struggling with the cost of living in the here and now. It is in the here and now that I welcome the £94 billion of support, or £3,300 for every household across Southend West.

We have heard a lot of criticism that we are not helping the vulnerable and that we are not doing enough, but we are helping with fuel, with energy and with childcare. We are helping with £3,300 for every household last year and this year, which is one of the best packages in Europe. I welcome it, and my constituents in Southend welcome it too.

However, the real stand-out wins in this Budget are the predictions that we will return to growth next year and get inflation down to 2.9% by the end of the year; that is a fall of over two thirds, and we have heard that it will be into single figures after that. Conservative Members absolutely recognise that inflation is the enemy of growth and prosperity. It destroys jobs and savings, it erodes the money in our pocket, and it affects in particular the poorest and the retired—those who do not have the wriggle room to cope with it—so I welcome the Government’s laser focus on bringing down inflation.

The other problem with inflation that we do not often talk about is, of course, its effect on the power of government spending. If we allow inflation to rage at 10% per year, we will have to increase public spending by 10% every year just to keep our public sector services as they are today, and that is just not sustainable. I am very pleased that the Government are showing restraint and resisting calls for inflation-busting pay.

I do not want to go down a political rabbit hole, but this is just a fact: if we were to give in to the unions that want 35% inflation-busting pay rises for junior doctors, that money would have to come from somewhere. It would have to come from my hard-working tax-paying Southend West constituents, who are themselves struggling with mortgages, food and utilities. Giving in to every one of those pay demands would cost £28 billion a year—an extra £1,000 in income tax from each of my hard-working constituents—so I am very pleased that the Government are showing restraint and a commitment to getting back to sound money.

In the time I have left, I will rattle through and welcome the Budget’s incentives for growth. Community pharmacies, such as the brilliant Belfairs pharmacy in my constituency, will benefit from the changes in the VAT system. Nurseries in my constituency will benefit from the uplift in hourly funding. Our world-leading national theatres will benefit from increased support and higher rates of tax relief for a further two years. Our brilliant charitable sector will also benefit.

So many measures in the Budget will bring more jobs, more growth and more prosperity not just for Southend and Essex, but for the whole of the UK.