Last week marked one of the most awaited events in the Parliamentary calendar: the Budget, during which the government assesses the economy and sets out its plans for changing spending and taxation.
This one will undoubtedly be remembered, being the first Budget delivered by a female Chancellor.
This was also my first Budget after being elected, and it was a huge privilege to hear this pivotal statement being made by a woman for the first time.
It was the busiest and rowdiest I’ve ever seen the Chamber, with MPs waving their white papers and reacting in real time to announcements.
After over an hour, the Chancellor concluded her announcements, some of which I strongly welcomed like extra NHS funding.
We Liberal Democrats are now committed to ensuring they keep these funding promises and improve access to GPs, dentists and hospital treatment for communities like Harpenden and Berkhamsted, after years of broken promises by the Conservatives.
One announcement which followed campaigns from the Liberal Democrats was the increase in the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit.
We have long called to boost unpaid carers’ support. But this is just a drop in the ocean in fixing the social care crisis, which is vital to recover the NHS.
The government need to launch a broader review to give carers the support they deserve, and exempt social care from increases in National Insurance for employers.
Additional funding will help the NHS cope with this tax rise, but it’ll still hit the vast numbers of private care providers hard.
This links to concerns I have about the burden of increased costs, like those, falling on small businesses at the heart of our local economy.
I’ll continue to call for greater support for businesses, starting with overhauling the business rates system currently hindering local investment.
The government have taken small steps to support them, but without this reform they aren’t doing enough.
I was also looking out for announcements on local government funding, which has been gutted under years of Conservative power.
I’m glad the government are allocating £1 billion more to SEND services, but we need long-term reform of SEND systems.
This funding needs to be fairly distributed as Hertfordshire sees some of the lowest SEND funding per capita in England.
The five days of Budget debates following the budget statement are an interesting and insightful dive into the budget, and I'll keep holding the government to account to deliver for the people of Harpenden and Berkhamsted.
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