New Year Message
Posted by Tom Levitt, MP for High Peak, at 16:42, Fri 2 January 2009:
This is my weekly column for 5 January 2009. You can find more about my work at www.tomlevitt.org.uk or by emailing me directly at tomlevittmp@parliament.uk, where priority is always given to emails from High Peak constituents.
Tempting though it is to predict the future at this time, the needs of the present are all too pressing. Economic uncertainties continue to dominate the agenda.
This winter, 19,870 people in High Peak will receive Winter Fuel Payments of £250 for the Over 60s (£400 for the Over 80s). 3,730 pensioners will see their Pension Credit rise whilst all pensioners will get £60 on account, in preparation for the rise in the state pension in April. Cold Weather Payments, when they apply, have been trebled from £8.50 to £25 per week.
Only 16,000 of the 28,000 elderly and disabled people in High Peak who are entitled to a Gold Card for free bus travel have so far claimed theirs.
9,400 families will see a big rise in Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit this month. The rise to £20 of Child Benefit for the first child has been brought forward by three months. The cut in VAT is worth, on average, £275 a year per household. Together with reduced personal tax allowances this will help everyone avoid the worst that the recession can bring.
It is important that we keep working. Government spending builds the services that people need and keeps people in work. It must not be cut. It must be financed, if necessary, by short term borrowing. By promising to pay all suppliers within ten days the Government is setting an example of how to keep the economy working. If your company cannot get cash to invest then sit down with the bankers until you find one who will deliver. That is what they are there for!
2009 will test us. But I am sure that we are doing the right things to make sure that the impact of global problems is kept as short and shallow as it can be.
Happy New Year.
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