Budget Resolutions

Paul Kohler Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paul Kohler (Wimbledon) (LD)]

I congratulate all those who made their maiden speeches today, and I congratulate President Trump on his election. While many of us in this House have legitimate concerns about what his victory presages for democracy and the rule of law, we should not undermine those values by criticising the American people for the choices that they have made.

It was a consequential presidential election, and this should have been a consequential Budget, given the cost of living crisis, record NHS waiting lists, crumbling public services and decaying infrastructure. After years of broken promises by an out-of-touch Conservative Government, people are desperate for fundamental change. Sadly, the Budget failed to deliver it. There are aspects that my party and I welcome, particularly extra investment in our NHS, although where is the structural change and reform of social care that are key to saving our NHS?

More fundamentally, despite the Government’s talking the talk, they have not walked the walk to grow our economy. In fact, much of what the Chancellor announced last week will hold us back. As the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for transport, I question whether the Chancellor is serious about economic growth, given that she has inflicted a real-terms cut to the transport budget. Our transport system should be the engine of our economy. After years of neglecting our infrastructure, the time has come to make targeted investments that would make a real difference to people’s lives by initiating organic growth, rather than the sugar rush of increased Government spending, which, as the OBR has shown, will dissipate in future years. Sadly, the Transport Secretary’s previous promises of “unprecedented funding” have resulted in little more than recycled infrastructure announcements, including some that have already been built, and increases to bus and rail fares that will hit the poorest hardest.

It is not just with regard to transport policy that the Budget disappoints. Labour claims to be championing working people and growth, but the increase in employers NI contributions is a tax on jobs, as it was when the Tories did it. It will put small businesses, which should be in the vanguard of our growth strategy, in jeopardy, and as the IFS has said, it will depress wages in the long run. We all appreciate the mess that the Government have inherited from the Conservatives. Earlier today, the Prime Minister said that his Government

“made the economy the centrepiece of our Budget”.

However, a Budget that damages the finances of families and businesses while stifling growth is not doing what it says on the tin, but rather kicking the can down the road, and doing nothing to reset our economy by laying the foundations for genuine, productive, organic growth.