Even by Tory standards, the 2014 budget was an opportunity missed. Just hours after fellow Tories had finished back-slapping George Osborne, commentators were calling his budget for what it was: a desperate attempt to woo back the demographics that the pollsters are predicting have been abandoning the Tories for UKIP. Just 2 months from EU and local elections, perhaps who can blame him?
Then – in that self-destructive way that Tories seem to achieve with startling regularity – a tweet by Tory Chairman Grant Shapps became the news, rather than the budget itself. The self-congratulatory tweeted poster declared “Cutting Bingo Tax and Beer Duty! To help hardworking people to do more of the things they enjoy!”
Social media and the press immediately picked up on the tell-tale “they”. As ever, the Tories see themselves as a class apart from the rest of “us”. Hopelessly out-of-touch with the general public, they can only imagine what “we” all get up to – and they have come to the conclusion that – at the end of a hard day’s work – what we all want to do is get drunk and gamble. Ergo, cut the duties on these pastimes and we’ll all tug our forlocks and thank them for it come election time.
It back-fired disastrously, as indignant (but very funny) tweeters sent the #ToryBingo hashtag viral, mocking the patronising complacency of Shapps and his chums.
“Bank off-shore?” – 44; “Rickety hips you can’t get fixed” – 66; “Let’s frack Devon” – 77 were just a few of my favourites.
Great though satire is, the budget will represent another wasted year in South Dorset.
On the same day as the budget was announced, the latest figures from DWP showed that while overall unemployment has fallen nationally, long-term unemployment has actually risen in South Dorset. Adults unemployed for over 2 years has risen by 27% in the past year, and young people unemployed for over 12 months has risen by 17% – despite the efforts of the government’s £5 billion Work Programme.
The Chancellor boasted yesterday about how well things were going, but yet again he is totally out of touch with hardworking people facing a cost-of-living crisis here in Dorset. We need a recovery for the many, not just a few at the top in London, and the latest unemployment figures from the DWP show that any recovery is not being felt by the majority of people here in Weymouth & Portland.
The cost of living crisis is a reality for families here, and even the OBR now confirm that we will all be worse off in 2015 than we were in 2010. The average earner in Dorset is £1600 a year worse off, yet rather than address these real issues the Chancellor set out a budget designed to chase votes rather than offer solutions. No one in Dorset will be fooled.
Week after week we read about more shops closing in the Weymouth’s town centre, and local small businesses are telling me they continue to struggle to access the funds that the government say they have released. Even Vince Cable has acknowledged that net lending to small businesses has fallen – at a time when areas like Weymouth are crying out for business investment to create more and better jobs.
The local Tory-led council has no vision for Weymouth and Portland and no answers, and nor it seems do the Tory-led coalition.
South Dorset Labour will be setting out its vision for a revitalised Weymouth & Portland this May in our local manifesto, and a future Labour government will establish a British Investment Bank to help get small businesses the finance they need. We have also pledged to cut and then freeze business rates, giving a tax cut to 1.5 million business properties nationally.
Ed Miliband was right in his budget response yesterday. The nation deserves better than a Tory-led government planning policy as it looks over its shoulder at UKIP. Britain can do better. South Dorset can do better.
We need a Labour government in 2015, and a Labour-led council this May.
Simon Bowkett is the South Dorset Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate. Follow his campaign at www.simonbowkett.co.uk, and on Twitter @Simon_Bowkett
South Dorset Labour will be holding a street stall in Weymouth this coming Saturday 22nd March to discuss the cost of living crisis and the budget with local people.
