In his regular blog for Caerphilly Observer, Caerphilly’s Labour MP Wayne David talks about the Budget.
Caerphilly MP Wayne David.
I am writing this blog having just left the Chamber in the House of Commons after listening to George Osborne’s Budget Statement.
My first reaction is that the Budget is a bit of a non event. Much of the Budget had been leaked beforehand and it was overshadowed by the previous day’s news that inflation had reached 4.4 percent and economic growth figures had been downgraded.
I guess that there will be a sigh of relief from many people that the Chancellor is knocking off one pence on a litre of fuel and is not going to implement the planned increase in duty. That is to be welcomed, but let’s not forget the Tories increased VAT in January and that has led to an extra three pence a litre on fuel.
Unfortunately, this Budget has done little if anything to help ordinary families. And we must remember of course that there are huge public spending cuts in the pipeline which have yet to be felt.
The other day the parents of Jordan Owen visited one of my constituency surgeries. They pointed out that their deaf and blind son was soon to lose the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance. At present Jordan attends the excellent Trinity Fields Special School in Ystrad Mynach, but soon he will need to move to a residential care home, probably in England.
At the moment Jordan is in receipt of the mobility component, but the Government is planning to stop this for people who live in residential homes. David Cameron believes that as patients in hospital do not receive the mobility component, then neither should people in residential care.
I believe that this is completely wrong. Whereas patients in hospital clearly do not need this extra allowance, people in residential care, like Jordan, should not be made “prisoners” in their care homes. His family should have the means to visit him regularly and take him out into the wider community.
This is what the cuts mean in practise. Under the Tories it is ordinary people and the disadvantaged who are suffering the most. We are not all in this together!
Wayne David
Labour MP for Caerphilly
Considering it was the labour party who created this damn mess what did you expect!
This government are not a lot better but please ask Ed Milliband what he would have done. He has said nothing concrete as yet and is not very convincing. Mind you to support rebel rousers does show some spirit I suppose
It is the job of a responsible opposition to hold the government to account and state openly when they dissagree with the decisions that the government are taking. Labour have stated openly that we would not have increased VAT which hits the poorest hardest and would be taxing the banks alot more than this government are. It is also not the policy for the Labour Party to abolish the mobility component of disability living allowance that this government are so disgracefully doing. Such real life stories highlighted by Wayne David bring home the reality of this governments over – zealous slashing of public spending which will have such a profound effect on people up and down this country.
The government are going too far and too fast and making the wrong choices. For those who say it was the Labour Party who created this mess I say that that view simply does not stack up. It is easy for opponents of the Labour Party to continue throwing out the same line time and time again but the reality is, the Labour Government were right to invest into the economy to stop a recession becoming a depression. Perhaps any tories out there would like to make it clear why they supported the comprehensive spending review in 2007 and agreed with Labours spending plans for the following years. If the public finances were in such bad shape then surely it would be irresponsible for them to agree to such spending plans. Let it be made clear, Labour were right to invest in the economy when the recession hit the world. The Tories have no answers on the economy.
Wayne makes much of one simple but very seriously debilitating and life changing measure of the Condem government removing the mobility component of DLA to those in residential care.
For all those who usually freely exercise their democratic rights to free speech and expression, and who support the Condem proposals, and, who may be finding it difficult to do so on this page, in disagreeing with Wayne,perhaps they could comment on the fact that thier government has now declared that they intend to rob elderly people of £50 and £100 a year from their winter fuel allowances despite their promis not to do so.
This treacherous bunch of sly, deceptive, Tories and Liberal Democrats (and that`s a contradiction in terms) are now seeking our votes for their candidates in the Welsh Assemly election, ignoring the fact that the cuts apply to disabled and elderly Welsh Citizens, who`s families they are now inviting to vote for them.
The front of these people is a disgrace, and all Welsh peole should ask them to explain themselves when they knock our doors inviting us to vote for them.
Isn't it time that the Tories, and others, stopped using the 'the Labour Legacy' as an excuse.The truth is that we ran into an international brick wall. Perhaps Labour should have seen it coming – but did any one else? The whole Western World had a nasty shock and I don't remember the Tories complaining about the massive dividends their shares brought them before the Banks finally burst. It's noteworthy too that, despite causing the turmoil the Banks, and their major shareholders, thanks to the taxes paid by ordinary working clas folk, have not suffered too badly.It is to be expected that Tories will use 'the Labour Legacy' to bring in their miserable measures to attack the weak and vulnerable in our society – a leopard can't change its spots – and any excuse will do, but when the LibDems do it
it simply shows what an insubstantial,easily led bunch of no-hopers they are.