BUDGET OFFERS NOTHING FOR ST AUSTELL & NEWQUAY

3.00.00pm GMT Wed 24th Mar 2010

Steve Gilbert says the budget offers nothing for St Austell & Newquay

Speaking after the Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered the final Budget statement before the General Election, St Austell & Newquay's Prospective MP Steve Gilbert has accused the Government of making empty promises that offer little for people in St Austell & Newquay.

Commenting after the Chancellor's statement, Steve Gilbert said:

'The Chancellor had the opportunity, created by the fact that his earlier estimates were wrong, of ditching the fuel duty rise completely. Instead, he chose to clobber motorists with an increase now, in October and again in January.

'It was noticeable that Nick Clegg was the only party leader to make specific reference in his response to the Budget to the problems faced by motorists in rural areas.

'Young people across St Austell &Newquay and Cornwall wanting to get onto the housing ladder will not get much benefit from the raising of the stamp duty threshold to £250,000. There's nothing in this Budget that is going to encourage the construction of the extra affordable housing that we so desperately need.

'This Budget could have started the process of making our tax system fairer to those on low incomes. Instead, by freezing the personal tax allowance and not allowing even an inflationary increase, the Chancellor has if anything made an already unfair system even less fair.

'The Budget was trailed by New Labour spin doctors as being the starting pistol of the Labour party's General Election campaign but it's a damp squib. The lack of new ideas serves only to demonstrate that after 13 years in Government the Labour party have nothing left to offer.'