Tag Archives: 2023 autumn statement

Lib Dems react to the Autumn Statement

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 22nd November 2023 - 3:41 pm

So, April election anyone?

The Autumn Statement is a deceptively feelgood package of giveaways in which the already rich benefit most whether businesses or people and the really poor suffer more. Want to take a guess which group is more likely to vote Conservative. Jeremy Hunt has produced a cynical Statement that is all about the Conservative Party with no regard to what the country actually needs.

Will this attempt to pull the wool over people’s eyes and pretend the past 7 years of hell didn’t happen work? Surely people’s memories are longer than that.

Underneath it all, the growth projections for the economy are terrible for the next couple of years. While the US, with all the fiscal stimulus Joe Biden has thrown at it, is doing pretty well.

Sarah Olney, our Treasury spokesperson, was unimpressed:

This is a deception from Jeremy Hunt after years of cruel tax hikes on hard-working families from this government.

Conservative chaos has sent mortgages and tax bills soaring, today’s announcements won’t even touch the sides.

Worse still was the deafening silence on health. These dismal forecasts show the economy is on life support and reducing NHS waiting lists is the shot in the arm needed.

It is a no-brainer that we need people off waiting lists and back to work, yet this Conservative government simply doesn’t care.

Today has been more stale nonsense from a Conservative government out of touch and out of ideas.

Ed Davey points out that for all the gimmicks in the Budget, people are still worse off because of the freezing of tax rates. The Hunt Hoax he calls it: