One of the main bills going through the House at the moment is the Finance Bill, which incorporates the changes that follow the Budget speech. The Budget is when the Chancellor of the Exchequer announces the Government’s spending, borrowing and taxation plans for the coming year.

It remains a source of great concern to me and so many local residents that the daily stress caused by rises in the cost of living have not been sufficiently acknowledged or addressed in this Budget. 

Wages are down £1,600 a year since David Cameron became Prime Minister in 2010. The Office of Budget Responsibility confirmed that people will be worse off in 2015 than they were in 2010.  In talking about the rise in the personal allowance, the 24 Tory tax rises introduced by George Osborne are not mentioned. In addition, Institute for Fiscal Studies figures have shown that families will be £974 a year worse off by the next election as a result of tax and benefit changes. Energy bills are up almost £300 since the election.

This is why Labour has argued that we need a recovery for the many, not just a few at the top. That requires a different strategy for how we rebalance the economy. In the Finance Bill debates we have called for a freeze in energy bills until 2017 and reform of the broken energy market, , a jobs guarantee to put young people back to work paid for by a tax on bank bonuses, an expansion of free childcare for working parents to 25 hours a week for 3 and 4 year olds, a cut in business rates for small firms and a plan to get 200,000 homes built a year by 2020. Labour has called for the reversal of the £3 billion tax cut for people earning over £150,000.

Some measures in the Budget were welcome and I mentioned these in the speech I made in the Budget Debate. The reduction in bingo duty will be welcomed by local residents who enjoy the activity at our local bingo hall. I am pleased that the Government listened to calls from Labour and the public by reducing this unfair duty and I would like to thank local residents, including bingo club manager Mike Ellis, for their campaigning on this issue.

Over a million 16-24 year olds in the UK are not in education, employment or training. Long term unemployment is up 343% since 2010, and long-term youth unemployment up by 98% since 2010. In Feltham and Heston alone there are 580 young people who can’t find a job. When I spoke to local school pupils on a recent visit, their jobs and future prospects were high on their agenda.                                                                                             

What was needed in this budget was a bold plan to tackle unemployment, reduce the cost of living and build a sustainable economy that generates wealth for the many and prosperity for all. We still have some way to go to achieve this.