HearFromYourMP

Previous message | Messages for this constituency

The Budget 2013

Posted by Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, at 15:18, Mon 22 April 2013:

The Budget is one of Parliament’s set piece occasions. It is the culmination of months of discussions between Ministers and the Treasury and also between Ministers and MPs and through them their constituents. Over the last few months, alongside colleagues, I have taken issues to the Treasury, plus ones raised by constituents to ensure their ideas and views were considered.

The Budget debate is always a little stormy but in between all of the Parliamentary theatre there were a good number of announcements which should ease the cost of living for many individuals and families in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

In all the noise, the underlying themes of the budget can get lost easily, but it is important as they provide the underlying reasons behind many of the announcements. Those themes were helping people with the cost of living and our competitiveness as a country, so we can once again be a great place for business to get our economy into growth.

It is also very personal. In parliament we hear speeches dealing with principles and eye watering sums of money, twelve digits long, but these bear little relation to the challenges of budgeting we face in our everyday lives.

For example, the government will spend £745,000,000,000 in 2015/16. To make sense of it we need to break the budget down to a human scale and what it means for our area.

So, a headline under helping people with the cost of living was increasing from 2014 the amount of money that can be earned without paying tax to £10,000. This tax cut will benefit an estimated 36,658 people in Harrogate and Knaresborough. The changes to the personal allowance across the parliament mean £700 less in tax for working families and take 4,391 local people out of paying tax altogether.

To help both the individual and businesses, the fuel duty rise planned in the dying days of the last Government has been cancelled. Running a car is an essential part of daily life for many people and transporting goods around the country is a huge cost for business, so this reduction is very welcome. This Government has frozen fuel duty every year it has been in power meaning fuel is 13p cheaper than it would have been. The most local data available shows this saves the 2.7million motorists in Yorkshire and the Humber £170 every year.

There was help with child care costs and help for home buyers too, plus a surprise but welcome cut in beer duty. The Government scrapped the long standing beer duty escalator, saving a 3p per pint duty increase, and then made a 1p reduction too. Again to make it local, there are 964 people employed in local pubs and breweries. Pubs have been closing in recent years, and that has damaged communities, especially in villages that may have lost their shop or post office over the years, so I was pleased to receive local feedback that this duty cut will really help.

Support for business is critical. We have low unemployment here at just over 2%, but it is urgent that all action is taken to boost growth. There were many measures to help, but two stood out for me.

The Government is cutting the rate of corporation tax to 20 per cent in 2015. In only a few years, the tax has come down from 28 per cent, meaning businesses will be able to keep more of their profits which in turn can be pumped back into the business for investment and employment. When this reduction comes into effect in April, the UK will have the lowest corporation tax rate in the G20 group of major economies – a critical part of making this country an attractive place to locate a business.

The second was the help for employers on the National Insurance, which sees £2,000 off the bill for every employer. This measure is to tackle unemployment by making it easier and cheaper for companies to hire people. 65,000 employers in our region benefit.

From parliamentary occasion to practical help, taking the national and making it local. There is a phrase “all politics is local”. It is good advice, and important to take it especially at budget time.

Andrew Jones MP, 01423 529614, www.andrewjonesmp.co.uk @AndrewJonesMP