Hampshire MPs have their say on mini-budget. This was published in the Hampshire Chronicle: https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/23008295.hampshire-mps-say-mi…
HAMPSHIRE'S MPs have spoken out on Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget after a difficult week for the Chancellor and new PM Liz Truss.
This comes as Ms Truss acknowledged mistakes over the widely-contested plan but said she is standing by her tax-cutting measures as she refused to rule out public spending cuts.
The Prime Minister admitted she could have done more to prepare the ground for Kwasi Kwarteng’s financial statement, which spooked the markets, sent the pound plummeting, and forced a £65 billion intervention from the Bank of England to restore order.
Ms Truss said the mini-budget’s most controversial measure – the abolition of the 45 per cent tax rate on earnings over £150,000 – was not discussed with the Cabinet but was a decision made by the Chancellor.
As the Conservative Party conference gets under way in Birmingham, Ms Truss faces a difficult task in reassuring the markets and Tory members unnerved by the turbulence and opinion poll crash suffered since she took office.
The Chronicle asked Steve Brine MP and Flick Drummond MP for their thoughts on the recent statement.
Caroline Nokes MP also gave her opinion as part her weekly collumn for the Romsey Advertiser.
Mr Brine said: “On the broad principle of the financial statement, I find it hard to see how anyone could disagree with growth of our economy as an objective or the fact we're spending tens of billions saving people from eye-watering energy bills this Winter. They’re easy to support.
“I support the cut in the basic rate of income tax to 19p in the pound from April 2023 - which will mean 31 million working people will be better off by an average of £170 per year - and the reversal of the 1 per cent National Insurance hike was well trailed and I suppose few residents or the businesses who had to pay it locally will complain about a little more money in their pockets right now.
“Notwithstanding the fact the top rate of tax was 40p for the entire period of the last Labour Government, to cut it back now as announced last week was tin-eared and extremely politically naive. I know there are many here that would benefit from the reduced top rate who don’t want it and that speaks volumes.
“The wider issue I have, and it seems the markets concur, is the lack of an independent OBR forecast which leads many to assume there are unfunded tax cuts here. I'm not sure the public are remotely in the place where tax cuts are their priority but if Ministers believe these are essential to achieving growth then they had better show their workings out and the detail of these promised supply side reforms to calm the markets and do it a lot sooner than the end of November.
"As I said to the Chief Secretary last week after the Statement, I am worried about confidence; in the City and across the wider economy being impacted by inflation. But it’s mortgage interest rates rising sharply that keeps me awake at night so Ministers must reassure the Bank of England it has a complementary plan that doesn’t make that inevitable the next time the MPC meets.”
All the main opposition parties - including Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green Party and Plaid Cymru - have now called for Parliament to be recalled early in light of the statement.
Such calls have been rejected by the Treasury.
Ms Drummond said: "Parliament should not be recalled at this time. My view is the Government’s growth plan has to be given time to work."
Mr Brine added: “It’s strange how Kier Starmer only called for Parliament to be recalled from conference recess after his party gathering has finished but that’s party politics I guess and, sadly, to be expected.
“What’s perhaps stranger is for anyone to call for a Budget that wasn't a Budget to be reversed when not one measure announced therein has yet been passed. So far as we can tell there is yet no Finance Bill.”
Speaking on BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Ms Truss said: "“I do want to say to people I understand their worries about what has happened this week. I do stand by the package we announced and I stand by the fact we announced it quickly, because we had to act.
“But I do accept we should have laid the ground better…I have learnt from that and I will make sure that in future we do a better job of laying the ground.”
The move to axe the top rate of income tax for the nation’s highest earners during a cost-of-living crisis and to pay for it through borrowing has been widely criticised, including by some Tory MPs.
During the interview, Ms Truss made Mr Kwarteng own the controversial decision, saying it was not discussed with the wider Cabinet.
“No, no, we didn’t. It was a decision the Chancellor made,” she said.
She was clear that pensions will rise in line with inflation, saying she has “committed to the triple lock” protecting them against price increases.
But she refused to give the same guarantee for benefits and government departmental budgets.
Not ruling out rowing back on Boris Johnson’s promise to raise benefit payments in line with inflation, she said: “This is something the Department of Work and Pensions Secretary (Chloe Smith) is looking at at the moment.
“She will make a determination on that and we will announce that this autumn.”
