Budget is full of positives - Sykes

OLDHAM Lib-Dems have welcome the Budget and said there are plenty of positives for the town.

Leader Howard Sykes said: “The key things in the Budget that will have a welcome impact upon the citizens of Oldham include help for lower and middle-income earners by increasing the personal allowance by a further £200 so that from April, 2016, the tax threshold increases to £10,800 and from April, 2017, to £11,000. An average worker is now over £800 a year better off as a result of this measure.

“By 2017-18, 27.2 million workers will have benefited from increases in the personal allowance and we will have lifted over 3.7 million out of income tax altogether.

“There is help for children with mental health problems by providing £1.25 billion of new funding over the next five years to treat 110,000 more children and provide rapid access to treatment for new mothers.

“There is help for motorists by cancelling Labour’s fuel duty increase for September, so that fuel duty will have been frozen for five years — the longest freeze for more than 20 years.

“There is help for people buying a house with a new Help to Buy ISA providing up to £3,000 for first-time buyers using their savings to buy a home. This is in addition to home owners making mortgage repayments benefiting from Britain’s lowest interest rates throughout the lifetime of this Parliament.

“There is help for savers by creating a new savings income allowance so that 95 per cent of individuals can now save completely tax free. This will mean more money in the pockets of savers who work hard to put money aside.

“There is help for pensioners by introducing a proposal to give people who have already bought an annuity greater flexibility over how they access its value. This is on top of the Triple Lock commitment made by the Liberal Democrats that pensions should rise by inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent each year, whichever is the highest figure, meaning that pensioners no longer face the humiliation of the 75p ‘rise’ grudgingly given by Gordon Brown’s miserly Government.

“It will be paid for by delivering on Lib-Dem policy which are to reduce the lifetime allowance for pension contributions that benefit from tax relief from £1.25 million to £1million — affecting only the top 4 per cent of wealthiest individuals, by increasing the bank levy which will raise £4.4 billion over the next five years and by cracking down on off-shore tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance on those who are serial avoiders.

“The Liberal Democrats have been cracking down on those who dodge tax with 40 loopholes, left by the last Labour government, closed so far. This has resulted in billions of pounds in additional tax being collected over the course of this Parliament.

“The latest measures announced in the budget will raise an extra £3 billion — money that can be spent on schools and hospitals — by ensuring capital gains tax entrepreneurs’ relief is well targeted and only available when someone is making a meaningful withdrawal from that business.

“The economy is growing because of the hard work of people and businesses throughout Britain.

“The UK currently has the fastest growth among G7 economies. At the end of 2014, the number of people in work was at a record high of 30.9 million.

This shows that in the face of rising instability around the world the Liberal Democrat plan is delivering stability and growth.”