Last week’s Budget detailed this Government’s Plan for Long Term Growth. Our plan is working, and we’re sticking to it.
The last few years have not been easy for Britain’s economy. We’ve faced Covid, and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. I know from my postbag that these challenges have made life tough for people in North Northumberland and beyond. The economy may not be where we would want it to be – we would all hope to feel more prosperous – but our plan to recover and grow is working!
You’ll remember our ‘Long Term Economic Plan’. It was only because this fiscally-responsible Government reduced the deficit by 80% between 2010 and 2019 that we got the economy back from ruin.
It is only because we fixed the roof while the sun was shining that we were economically able to provide £400 billion to help families and businesses in the pandemic. Our North Northumberland constituency received just shy of £100 million in Covid grants, plus £78 million of Government-backed loans, and a further £32.8 million worth of self-employment income support.
It is only because we have had a responsible economic plan that our economy was capable of subsidising around half of typical households' energy bills over the winter energy crisis.
And now we’ve wrestled inflation down from 11.1% to 4.0%.
So, to our new Plan for Long Term Growth:
We’re cutting your National Insurance tax by yet another two percentage points. Combined with the 2% cut in the Autumn Statement, this saves the average worker £900 – the average nurse will be £1,053 better off; the average police officer £1,270; the typical teacher over £1,270!
This is just one of many, many new actions. We’re also freezing fuel duty for the fourteenth year… raising the threshold for the High-Income Child Benefit Charge to £60,000… providing the NHS £6 billion of new investment… and ending non-dom status.
That’s just the start. As the MP for North Northumberland, representing Berwick down to Morpeth, I wholeheartedly believe in cutting taxes for working people – both to incentivise work and to boost growth. Our Plan for Long Term Growth is working, and we’re sticking to it.