Pippa on the Spring Statement

I was hugely disappointed with the Chancellor’s Spring Statement which was a missed opportunity to deliver the change needed here in South Cambridgeshire where our local businesses, our pubs and high street shops and our GP surgeries are already struggling. I have heard from so many small businesses and care providers that the National Insurance job tax brought in by Labour is pushing them to the cliff edge.

The government is banking on high levels of growth from our area, given the importance to the national economy of Greater Cambridge’s world-class life science, deep tech and AI sectors. The government must understand that this unique ecosystem of innovation depends hugely on start-ups and small businesses. While the government bangs the drum for growth, they're actually stifling it by choosing tax hikes on the very businesses that keep our local economy alive.

Yes, we have to bring the welfare bill down and support more people into work. It’s right for people and our economy. But cutting support for someone who needs help getting dressed and washed in the morning isn’t just wrong; it does absolutely nothing to support that person into work. If anything, it does the exact opposite. If the government is serious about cutting welfare spending, it must get serious about fixing health and social care. That's why we Liberal Democrats are urging the government to finish the social care review by the end of the year.

I will continue fighting for a fair deal for our constituency. The government must urgently change course. They should cut the jobs tax, reform business rates and cut the enormous post-Brexit red tape suffocating farmers, agrifood producers and businesses. The Conservative’s botched Brexit trade deal has created a mind-blowing 2 billion extra bits of paperwork.  We Liberal Democrats continue to urge the government to get the economy growing with a better bespoke trade deal with the EU.