If Burnham wants to ease the cost of living, he must not raise taxes. Andy Burnham has arrived in Westminster with a lot of big words and a few small announcements.
A bit of money off bus fares and bills might sound nice, but the real reason life is too hard for too many right now is because taxes are too high, and the weekly shop is too expensive.
The tax burden is the highest it’s ever been. Conservative governments must share some of the blame for this, but they had the covid furlough scheme to pay for.
Labour came into power promising lower taxes. Yet, from the ‘Jobs Tax’ national insurance hike, to the family farms and family business taxes, they have squeezed firms dry, forcing up prices and the costs of hiring staff. As a result, jobs and growth have disappeared.
The worst part about it is that the Labour government is spending much of the revenue from their new taxes servicing a welfare bill that continues to climb ever higher.
Burnham and his new Chancellor John Healey face a tricky test at the budget this autumn.
The cost of living is getting worse, unemployment continues to rise, and they need to find the money to pay for Britain’s defence in a world that is getting more and more dangerous.
What they should be talking about is how they intend to cut government spending, cut welfare and make sure our armed forces get the support they need. Instead, they’re talking about more taxes.
It all feels eerily familiar. Remember last summer? Then Chancellor Rachel Reeves wouldn’t rule out any tax rises.
The speculation grew and the fear grew with it. We saw it then and we’re seeing it again now. Confidence disappears before investment does.
An engineering firm delays ordering new machinery because it wants to see what happens to business taxes.
A restaurant owner postpones taking on another member of staff because she fears another increase in employment costs.
An overseas investor comparing Britain with another country quietly decides that the alternative offers greater certainty.
Those decisions never appear in Treasury forecasts. There are no records of the jobs that weren’t created or the investment that went elsewhere. Yet, taken together, they determine whether an economy grows or stagnates.
This is what Burnham is doing to Britain right now and it needs to stop. There is an alternative – it’s the Conservative Party’s plan.
We will start off by bringing down the welfare bill, ensuring there is a safety net for those who can’t work, but making sure that those who can work, do.
We will use half those savings to pay down the country’s deficit. And the other half to do things like ease taxes – cutting business rates for the high street and abolishing stamp duty for all family homes.
We’ll return to common sense on energy – drilling our own oil and gas in the North Sea and scrapping the green taxes and levies that force up the cost of household bills.
And we’ll properly champion business, ditching all of Labour’s job-destroying trade union laws and cutting the regulation that holds back growth.
This is how you revitalise an economy and ease the cost of living. With common sense measures to give people more of their own money to spend and businesses the confidence to invest and grow.
Andy Burnham must rule out any new taxes this autumn. The alternative is more hardship and fewer jobs.
