Pre-Budget report fails Wales on key issues - Randerson

4.26.00pm GMT Mon 24th Nov 2008

The Pre-budget report will not help struggling families in Wales

Welsh Lib Dem Spokesperson for Finance, Jenny Randerson AM has rejected the Pre-Budget Report from Alistair Darling for failing to help those hardest hit by the recession

Jenny Randerson said: "A small cut in VAT won't help poor and middle income families enough to help them climb out of the economic hole they are in. One benefit of this however is for local government who pay millions in VAT. But for most people, this will simply be swallowed up by business who will struggle to resist the temptation not to reflect the cut in VAT in prices.

"We need real and lasting income tax cuts for those who are struggling to keep their heads above the increasingly choppy waters.

"You have to wonder why the Government have not learnt from the very problems they are attempting to come to grips with. Storing up debt for the future is exactly what got us in to this situation in the first place. Announcing temporary measures to boost the ailing economy is no alternative for radical and revolutionary changes to the tax system to make it less hard to bear for ordinary people."

"This is also another sign that times will be increasingly tight for the Welsh Assembly Government as well. They must look again at their budget to ensure local authorities get a better deal, so that high Council tax rises will not be an inevitable part of the new financial year for people in Wales."

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