As Lib Dems respond to the Budget, we will update this post:
Kirsty Williams was first off the mark as she slammed Osborne’s halving of the Severn Bridge tolls as “pathetic.”
Frankly, the proposed cut in the tolls is pathetic. Once back in public ownership, there is no need whatsoever for there to be tolls on these bridges. The Chancellor is cynically acting as if he is doing commuters a favour, but the fact is that he wants to keep this unfair tax on entering Wales. Only the Liberal Democrats will completely scrap these tolls.
The lack of any real progress on the Swansea Tidal Lagoon is yet another nail in the coffin of the Tories’ green credentials. The Liberal Democrats ensured that the Coalition Government fully backed the Swansea Tidal Lagoon project. With the Tories on their own, all we have seen is minister after minister talking this project down. The Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon must go ahead. It will lead to thousands of new green jobs and supply energy for 120 years – over three times as long as a nuclear plant.
The Port Talbot enterprise zone is good news and I hope will go a long way in helping rejuvenate the area. The Labour Government must pull its weight and set up an urban regeneration company for Port Talbot to help counter the impacts of the decline in heavy industry and manufacturing.
It’s clear for all to see that North Wales has been neglected for too long and has not been getting its fair share of infrastructure projects. I welcome any progress in improving transport links in the area, however the people of North Wales need more than a sentence of warm words ahead of an election.
Willie Rennie said:
This budget was George Osborne’s chance to realise his mistake in committing to increase the higher rate tax threshold. But instead he has continued down his well-trodden path to record-breaking tax cuts for the richest in society.
Scottish Liberal Democrats will never stomach that. When Scotland receives the Smith powers to set tax bands, our priority is a zero-rate tax band, which will effectively extend the personal allowance and lift thousands of people on low incomes out of tax altogether.
If Ruth Davidson doesn’t want Scottish tax payers to pay more here than they would have under the Chancellor, she will have to match George Osborne. So the Tories in Scotland will be cutting taxes for the rich too.
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5 Comments
I am truly scared for my country. Never mind the EU referendum, the bigger threat comes from a government that has alienated the entire medical profession, slashed the income of the most needy in our society and removed public accountability from our schools. All the time the BREXIT campaign are pointing at their imagined “dictatorship” in Brussels, the Tories are busy creating one here, right under our noses!
Phil Dunn (Bournemouth Liberal Democrats)
Well said, Phil.
They might be delivering on a partial devolution. The plans to set up a Greater Lincolnshire LEP, even with an elected mayor might offer some hope for this forgotten part of England. To the Victor the spoils?
The Business Secretary should review his performance on BBC2 Newsnight of 16/3/16 and take care. His loyalty to the Blue team is very obvious and his ambition to succeed the Chancellor at some stage is understandable. He should know that the interviewer Evan Davies is economically literate, although his politeness was being stretched. A future Chancellor would need to be looking at markets interested only in money, so credibility should be 24 carat gold. Cutting benefits for disabled people and reducing higher rate income tax at the same time has happened.
The most blatant piece of political pork-barrelling was the Chancellor’s triumphalist statement to Cornwall that if you want you need to vote blue.