- GDP: Govt must scrap their growth-crashing jobs tax
- Mandelson: Lib Dems call for Parliament to vet next US Ambassador
- Lib Dems reveal rate of agricultural, forestry and fishing business closures is increasing
GDP: Govt must scrap their growth-crashing jobs tax
Responding to the latest GDP figures showing 0% growth for July, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:
The Government talks of going full throttle on growth but the reality is they have left the handbrake on.
Their growth-crushing jobs tax risks hollowing out our high-streets and ministers’ refusal to jettison their short-sighted red lines on cutting red tape with Europe is holding back our exporters.
Tinkering around the edges simply won’t cut it. The Government needs to scrap their jobs tax and immediately begin negotiating a bespoke UK-EU customs union to unleash our small businesses.
Without it we won’t be able to get the growth needed to rebuild our public services and protect family finances.
Mandelson: Lib Dems call for Parliament to vet next US Ambassador
The Liberal Democrats have called for Parliament to be given a role in vetting the next US Ambassador, following the sacking of Peter Mandelson over his links with Epstein.
The party has said this should include a hearing with the Foreign Affairs Committee, to properly scrutinise the next proposed Ambassador and avoid a repeat of the botched appointment of a compromised public figure.
Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Calum Miller said:
The Prime Minister’s appointment of Mandelson was a clear error of judgment, a mistake that we cannot afford to let him repeat.
With Trump in the White House, we need an ambassador who will stand up to the President, and represent British values.
To avoid further national embarrassment for our country on the international stage, the Foreign Affairs Committee must now have a role in scrutinising Mandelson’s successor before they are appointed.
Lib Dems reveal rate of agricultural, forestry and fishing business closures is increasing
Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokesperson and West of Scotland MSP Jamie Greene has today attacked SNP mishandling of rural and coastal communities as he revealed that almost 4,000 agricultural, forestry and fishing business have closed since the last election.
According to figures provided by the Scottish Government in response to a Scottish Liberal Democrat parliamentary question, 3,950 agricultural, forestry and fishing business have closed since Q2 2021.
The rate of closures is also increasing. In 2017, 645 businesses in those sectors closed, while in 2024, 835 businesses in those sectors closed.
Commenting on the figures, Jamie Greene said:
It is no wonder we are seeing more agricultural, forestry and fishing businesses closing. The SNP just don’t understand our rural and coastal communities Scotland.
We saw that with their proposals to exclude our fishing boats from huge parts of Scotland’s waters. We’ve seen it with their failure to dual the A9 or deliver workable broadband in the north.
Scotland is packed with ambitious, entrepreneurial people but they are held back by red tape and government neglect. Scottish Liberal Democrats want to help small and medium sized businesses flourish in every corner of Scotland.
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3 Comments
I grow a little weary of the ‘jobs tax’ argument. Companies always complain about taxes, especially when their employees are seen as gainers, in this case because NICS are meant to go towards pensions.
Labour boxed themselves in by their ludicrous pledge not to increase a range of taxes. Companies have had years of favourable treatment by Tory Governments and expect the same from Labour and the right wing press continue their campaigns against alleged high taxes, trying to convince basic rate tax payers that they are at risk, whilst trying to preserve their own positions.
We should not be abetting this fraud.
“I grow a little weary of the ‘jobs tax’ argument”
No doubt. I bet the businesses and charities and NGOs that fail because they have to find extra money to pay the tax, and the owners who make less profit, or make a loss instead, and the workers who lose their jobs because money can’t be found to pay it, are all pretty tired of it too.
Employer’s National insurance is a bad tax because it disincentives employing people, and the hypothecation argument – though perhaps valid once – now has no basis in fact. There are better options.
Employers NI was the wrong tax to raise – it’s only merit being that Labour hadn’t promised not to. And it coincided with (rightly) raising the minimum wage, and so the combined effect hit some companies e.g. in hospitality very hard.
Corporation Tax would have been a better choice, as it’s based on profit and so is inherently affordable, if too easy to avoid for multi-nationals. But Labour had already boxed themselves in by ruling that out.
But I keep hearing how we’re against the increase in NI and Inheritance Tax on farms, and all the things we want to increase spending on, but not how we propose to pay for it all. The luxury of being in opposition I suppose….