Budget 2007 - Gordon Brown is no friend of hard-working people

March 2007

You should judge politicians by their actions not their words. So the budget, last week showed that Gordon Brown is no friend of ordinary hard-working people, pensioners or those concerned by environmental issues.

Unlike Brown, the Lib Dems would tax pollution more and scrap tax-breaks for the super-rich but cut the income tax people pay – meaning that the average double earner household would be £1500 a year better off. In contrast, Brown’s tax cuts as Mike Warburton, senior tax partner at accountants Grant Thornton told the Daily Telegraph will penalise those on low pay. The Lib Dems would also immediately restore the earnings link with the state pension – something Brown refused to do last week.

And don’t forget it was the Conservatives who cut the link between the state pension and earnings – a decision that is now costing pensioners over £2,730 a year. And eighteen years of Tory rule also saw the NHS with thousands fewer nurses, doctors and hospital beds. It is clear what Cameron’s Conservatives stand for – cuts. It was the votes of Cameron and his Tory colleagues who ensured that we went to war with Iraq - costing us £5 billion while I and my Lib Dem colleagues voted against it. And under the Tories, Britain was castigated as the “dirty man of Europe” – so much for being “green”.

And around the country, in council after council, Conservatives are making cuts. Take Tory run Fareham. Their pensioners’ bus pass is only borough-wide. In contrast Lib Dem Portsmouth’s pass allows the elderly to go anywhere within Hampshire.

Tory run Hammersmith and Fulham are cutting their vulnerable children’s budget by £223,000 and street cleaning by £1million, while Tory run Croydon is making a massive £6 million cut in Social Services.

And while not everything is perfect in Portsmouth, the Lib Dems are improving services in the city. All the roads are being resurfaced, there are city-wide community wardens, more for services for our elderly and vulnerable and exam results improving faster than the national average. And there is real action on environmental issues –with recycling doubled and a new energy efficiency manager just two examples.