17 November 2022 – today’s press releases

  • Wales Ambulance Waiting Times – Emergency Lights Should be Flashing for Labour
  • Budget: Everyone being forced to pay the price for Conservative chaos
  • Cancer Treatment Waiting Times Intolerable
  • Conservative giveaway to big banks set to cost taxpayers £18 billion
  • 5 Hidden Horrors in the Autumn Statement

Wales Ambulance Waiting Times – Emergency Lights Should be Flashing for Labour

Responding to the news that Welsh ambulance response times have hit their slowest on record ever for red calls Jane Dodds MS said:

When someone is in a moment of crisis and chooses to call 999, they want to know that there will be someone at the other end of the line able to help them.

These figures should set emergency lights flashing for the Welsh Government. Labour has often used the pandemic as an excuse but ambulance services were struggling in Wales long before COVID.

It is especially appalling that once again those in rural areas like my own region will bear the brunt of this crisis, in Hywel Dda Health Board a staggering 61% of red calls are not being answered within target times, in Powys it is 59%.

The significant delays in ambulance response times are most often due to backlogs at A&E departments resulting in patients having to wait in ambulances outside.

What we need to see is real investment in primary health services in local communities, including our GPs to prevent these build-ups at emergency departments and to prevent people from falling into such ill health they require emergency treatment.

Just this month we revealed Labour aren’t hitting the 200 GPs a year target Wales needs.

Labour must get a better handle of this crisis as soon as possible. Swift action might be the difference between life and death.

Budget: Everyone being forced to pay the price for Conservative chaos

Responding to the Autumn Statement, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said:

This is the cost of chaos budget. Everyone is being forced to pay the price for this Conservative government’s incompetence.

After crashing the economy and sending mortgage bills spiralling, the government is now inflicting eye-watering tax hikes and real-terms cuts to our public services. The country shouldn’t be forced to clean up their mess.

Britain needs a fair plan to get through this cost of living crisis, yet today confirms we have a chaotic Conservative government lurching from crisis to crisis. They have let oil and gas firms escape a proper windfall tax for months whilst shamelessly cutting taxes for the big banks. This is an out of touch Government which has no plan to help people with their bills.

Cancer Treatment Waiting Times Intolerable

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS has called on the Welsh Labour Government to “stop sticking his head in the sand” as figures published today show that cancer treatment waiting times remain stubbornly high.

Just 53.3% of referrals started treatment within 62-days, significantly below the target of 75%. Not a single health board in Wales met this target.

Jane Dodds MS said:

Month after month we are seeing the Welsh Government miss this target, the continued decline in cancer waiting times is intolerable. Labour has to stop sticking its head in the sand and get on with resolving this crisis.

Both cancer patients and staff are being failed by this Labour Government. Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial to the chances of survival.

The Welsh Government needs to urgently get a grip of cancer care and treatment and publish its Cancer Action Plan.

Conservative giveaway to big banks set to cost taxpayers £18 billion

  • Hunt slashes Bank Surcharge while raising taxes on struggling families.
  • Conservative cuts to Bank Surcharge and Bank Levy to total £18bn over next 5 years.
  • Liberal Democrat Leader calls for bank tax cuts to be reversed to fund Mortgage Protection Fund for homeowners seeing payments skyrocket.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey is calling on the Chancellor to reverse Conservative tax cuts for the big banks and fund support for struggling families instead, as new figures show that the cuts will total £18 billion over the next five years.

Jeremy Hunt used his Autumn Statement to confirm Rishi Sunak’s planned cut to the Bank Surcharge from 8% to 3% from April 2023, even as he increased taxes on millions of struggling families by extending the freeze in the Income Tax personal allowance and higher-rate threshold.

It follows Conservative cuts to the Bank Levy every year from 2016 to 2021, and means that the two bank taxes will raise a combined £2.5 billion next year, down from £4.7 billion in 2016-17 – a 56% real-terms cut.

Analysis by the Liberal Democrats shows that banks will pay £18 billion less over the next five years than if revenues from the Surcharge and Levy had been maintained at 2016-17 levels in real-terms.

The party is calling on the Chancellor to reverse these cuts and use the revenue to support struggling families – including a £3 billion Mortgage Protection Fund for homeowners who are seeing their monthly mortgage payments rise most sharply as a result of the Conservatives’ disastrous mini-budget in September.

Ed Davey MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said:

After all his u-turns, the one thing Rishi Sunak seems determined to press ahead with is cutting taxes for the big banks. He’s got his priorities completely wrong and he is totally out of touch with the British people.

The Conservatives are handing out £18 billion in unfair and unnecessary tax cuts for the big banks, while raising taxes on struggling families and pensioners and leaving millions to pay a Conservative Property Penalty on their mortgage bills. It’s just not right.

I urge Jeremy Hunt to listen to the British people and start helping. Reverse these tax cuts for the banks and use a small chunk of the money for a new Mortgage Protection Fund to cover the extra costs for those families seeing their payments rise most sharply.

5 Hidden Horrors in the Autumn Statement

The Liberal Democrats have revealed five “hidden horrors” buried in the small print in the Autumn Statement, including a staggering £18bn of tax cuts for the banks while almost six million people are dragged into a higher rate of tax.

  1. Bank tax cuts: Cuts to the bank levy and banking surcharge will mean a tax giveaway of a staggering £18 billion to banks over the next five years.
  2. Police cuts: Home Office spending is set to be slashed by £100m in real-terms by 2024-25.
  3. Crumbling schools: There will be a £1 billion (14%) real-terms cut in capital spending on education in 2024-25.
  4. Stealth tax: Almost six million people are being dragged into a higher tax band by the freezing of tax thresholds (3.2 million into the lower rate and 2.6 million into the higher 40p rate).
  5. Social Housing: New stealth tax on social housing providers will mean lower investment in existing and new social housing.

Responding to these announcements, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, Sarah Olney MP said:

Underneath the surface of this terrible “cost of chaos” Budget are yet more hidden horrors. Everything from police to social housing to our crumbling schools is being left in the dust by this Conservative Government.

Everyone will be forced to pay for this cost of chaos budget with their public services being slashed more each year.

Banks are being given a huge tax giveaway while millions are dragged into a higher rate of tax.

The accumulated impact of these cuts will mean a bleak recession for years to come caused by an out of touch Conservative Government.

Read more by or more about , , , , , or .
This entry was posted in News, Press releases and Wales.
Advert

One Comment

  • Helen Dudden 18th Nov '22 - 10:31am

    It was reported on line yesterday another hotel was taken over.
    This time the homeless were, a father, mother and their children. As caretakers of the hotel they were asked to leave with 24 hours notice. Told by the Local Authority no housing offered a hotel room somewhere else.
    Others have lost their employment, as the government and Serco take over. Often working in a hotel provides a home too.
    I think it’s time to decide what is being achieved. There are those coming, that don’t go into hotels, they are collected and disappear into the dark economy. This is a very profitable industry, slavery. Pressure can be put on the family in Albania should the situation not go well.
    It is slavery, in fact they have been sold by the ideal of streets of gold.

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert



Recent Comments

  • Steve Trevethan
    Excellent article! Thank you Mr. Hofman! Might it help the survival of a habitable planet and an equitable society to have the taxing of the less informati...
  • Jenny Barnes
    And all those holiday adverts....
  • Keith Sharp
    Following Mark's link to the (amazing to hear it now) last Reagan speech, I was reminded of these words: ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masse...
  • Christopher Haigh
    A very wide article William. I never understood why right wing Tory 'global trader' advocates like Johnson were so keen on Trump. The ex President had noted th...
  • Katharine Pindars
    It seems to me our attitude to the threats posed by a Trump-led America should first be to commit our party to defence. Defence of our people as well as our Lib...