Caroline Voaden: Government prefers infighting to local concerns

You would not be alone in feeling a sense of déjà vu watching the latest psychodrama unfold in Number 10.

Back in July last year, the public overwhelmingly rejected years of Tory infighting and wrangling for the top job, in favour of a return to calmer, steadier politics. 

Fast forward 18 months and Labour are descending into the same kind of chaos we saw under the Conservatives. All the while the issues they inherited and created continue to fester, and we are just days away from a Budget the Chancellor appears to be tweaking in real-time. 

Hardly calmness personified! From talking to business owners here in South Devon, I understand how galling it is to see the Government consumed by gossip and ego, while you are striving to make a living in today’s difficult market. 

Instead of focusing on themselves, Number 10 and the wider Government should actually get on with the job voters tasked them with. For me, that starts by facing up to the mistakes Labour made in its first year in office. 

First and foremost, they must address the cascading effects from their changes to employer national insurance contributions (NICs). Almost as soon the policy was announced, hospitality and entertainment businesses raised the alarm not just about the contribution hike, but the lowering of the threshold at which NICs kicks in from £9,100 to £5,000. 

In the months since then, those warnings have come to fruition in two devastating ways: employers are cutting jobs and not hiring. To put an exact number on it is difficult, but it is estimated that up to 110,000 jobs could have been lost in the hospitality sector alone by the time the Chancellor delivers her Budget next week. 

For seasonal workers, many of whom will have been pulled into NICs thanks to the threshold dropping, the situation is arguably worse, with postings slumping to a seven-year low. Do not forget these are often entry-level jobs, which give young people their first taste of working life. 

Coming at a time when graduate jobs are also disappearing, the Chancellor’s NI tax changes are socially regressive, denying young people the opportunity to build skills that last a lifetime. 

Something must be done to restore industries that were once job creators to their former glory. That is why the Liberal Democrats are urging the Chancellor to slash VAT by 5% for pubs, restaurants, entertainment and accommodation venues at the upcoming Budget. 

Alongside this, we are calling for the Chancellor to remove the main renewable levy from people’s energy bills, which would slash the typical bill by more than £90 a year, taking bills to their second-lowest level since the energy crisis began. 

This two pronged “cost of living and cost of doing business rescue plan” would be funded by a new windfall tax on big banks and would save a typical family around £270 over the next eighteen months. 

People are working with their nose to the grindstone all month and have next to nothing left after sky-high bills and spiralling food prices. In years gone by people knew they could look forward to fish and chips with their family on a Friday night or a weekend trip to the cinema. 

The Liberal Democrats plan to cut VAT on hospitality and energy bills would make it more affordable for people to heat their homes, therefore allowing them to spend more on occasional extras. This would help to drive economic growth, restore our high streets, and give the country a much-needed morale boost. The Chancellor must consider it. 

If you wish to contact me about this, or any other issue you are facing, please email me at: caroline.voaden.mp@parliament.uk.   

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