A Budget for lower earners and Harlow families, for jobs and for motorists

With the current state of the economy, it was always going to be a difficult Budget.

We are currently paying £120 million a day in debt interest alone - that is £180,000 for Harlow residents, every single day.

But, despite the economic problems, the Budget has some good news for local residents in three ways:

1. A Budget for lower taxes for lower earners, and help for families. Harlow families will keep about £8 million extra in their pockets, after the Government raised the income tax threshold.

This will save most Harlow workers £200 a year. And there are further tax cuts on the way next year, saving Harlow people a total of £300 a year from 2012.

Getting on the housing ladder is becoming increasingly difficult, especially for young families in Harlow. That is why the Government has announced £250 million to help first-time buyers to purchase a new shared equity house or flat. This will help 10,000 families, and also boost our construction industry, and apprenticeships, supporting thousands of new jobs.

2. A Budget for motorists. The last Labour Government planned huge fuel tax rises on petrol. For months I have campaigned for fairer fuel prices - and met the PM directly on this - to help ease the burden for the 35,000 motorists in our town.

The Government has listened, scrapping Labour’s planned rise in fuel duty - and actually cutting the tax instead by 1p. We are also cancelling Labour's "fuel escalator" completely.

This will save Harlow motorists at least £750,000 this year at the pump, and brings to an end the frequent rises we saw under the last Labour Government.

3. A Budget for jobs. Thankfully, in recent months unemployment in Harlow has fallen. But since Gordon Brown's recession our town has suffered from deep unemployment and rising costs. This has put a burden on hard working people who just want to have a decent living.

To combat this, we are investing £300 million to create 100,000 work experience places for young people, in real private sector jobs.

On top of this we will create an an extra 250,000 apprenticeships over four years, and new “Enterprise Zones” with tax breaks and easier planning rules. I myself have taken on a Harlow apprentice in Parliament, and am encouraging other MPs to do the same.
With more than 2,500 businesses registered in our town, Harlow is one of the most entrepreneurial towns in England, and I have asked the Government to consider us to be one of the new “Enterprise Zones”. Our firms will benefit from an extra 2p reduction in business taxes, creating thousands of new jobs.

As well as being a Budget for families, lower earners, jobs and motorists, I am glad that the Government has protected NHS spending, and will spend money on poorer pupils through the pupil premium.

The pupil premium guarantees at least £430 extra will be spent on each Harlow pupil on free school meals - about 2,000 young people in our town, whose education will benefit from an extra £831,000 in every single year.

Finally, the freeze in Council Tax will save £72 a year for an average Harlow family. It has been an extremely tough year, but our economy is at last moving in the right direction.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com