Sitting in the Commons yesterday, I watched with concern as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, revealed a Budget that, in many ways, fundamentally misunderstands the challenges facing the constituency and indeed our country.
During the course of the general election, Labour ruled out tax hikes for working people, something they did over 50 times. This budget demonstrates a broken promise. Rachel Reeves has hiked National Insurance Employer Contributions, which experts say will hammer working people as this tax on jobs will make it harder for small and medium businesses to hire staff and increase pay. In fact, just this morning the Chancellor has already admitted to the BBC about her tax raising Budget impacting pay for workers as a result of paying more National Insurance alongside the OBR's forecast revealed this morning whereby the rise will cut wages by £7.5 billion. Not only that, she's increased Capital Gains Tax, hitting good working people with assets and investments, punishing those who seek to grow and aspire and those who wish to supplement their retirement. It was deeply unfortunate to see Labour has confirmed a cold, cruel winter for millions of pensioners by proceeding with cuts to 10 million Winter Fuel Payments. Again, Reeves has hiked stamp duty for second-time buyers which will cause undue harm to those looking to move for work or for starting a family, and has fiddled with the figures to allow tens of billions of more borrowing every year which will push up interest rates which will undoubtedly lead to more costs for millions of mortgage holders.
And for the good working people in our constituency who do not drive and depend on our bus services to work have now been punished with a 50% rise in the cap fare which will add hundreds to their yearly bill. It was, however, welcome to see the Labour government follow through on our campaign to freeze fuel duty that will undoubtedly, as we advocated, help the millions of motorists get by with their daily lives.
Unsurprisingly Labour has shown their lack of care for our farming communities who are the backbone of our local economy. The changes to Agricultural Property Relief and the above-inflation hike in the National Living Wage come at a time when our farmers are already struggling with tightening margins and unpredictable and extreme weather. These measures will make producing food more expensive and could be the final straw for many farms here in the constituency and the country. When Labour makes promises to farmers as they did in the election, they should keep them - instead they've delivered a budget that fundamentally undermines our farmers and their security.
With Small Business Saturday coming up in December, I have been in contact with various local independent businesses in the constituency as I seek to make a number of visits to promote, listen and understand the issues and concerns of our small and medium-sized businesses. I know that our businesses support the notion of paying their employees fairly, and rightly so, but I know today's news with the hike in National Insurance Employer Contributions, and the Business Rates Relief reduction will open questions as to what these announcements could mean for their businesses whether higher prices for consumers that risks undercutting their revenue or closing up altogether as the need to operate and stay afloat requires a certain margin of profit.
Higher borrowing, higher debt, higher taxes, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has confirmed that the Labour government's policies will increase borrowing by billions each year and warned that workers will end up paying for the NI increase. There is no doubt that this is a terrible budget that will hit the pockets of hardworking people and businesses in my constituency and across the country.
