This long-term sounding government is turning out to be just as short-term-thinking as its predecessor, and it’s got people on an irritated edge. Combined with broader world events, there’s a general jangling of nerves. From the devastating earthquake in Myanmar, through renewed fighting in Gaza, to the ongoing European conflict in Ukraine, global events are causing anxiety and concern. Closer to home, the Spring Statement has needlessly left us feeling uneasy about the financial future and pondering on the Government’s mixed messages.
The changes to welfare are a particular area of the government’s contradictory decisions.
I say “yes, absolutely” to the dignity of work and purpose and that as many people as possible should be able to secure the benefits of employment and make their contribution.
Nevertheless, the eligibility changes jar with earlier decisions to raise employers’ national insurance contributions that are slowing up hiring and drying up the very job opportunities those previously receiving Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) or incapacity benefit are meant to find. I was speaking to people on their doorsteps last weekend in Gillingham and heard specific examples of the impact cuts to PIPs will make.
An ex-nurse was keen to work, but her experience indicated employers unwilling to adjust their expectations, even amid skills shortages. While the increase in the National Living Wage is welcome, especially the higher percentage rise for younger workers, taken together with the increased National Insurance contributions the effect is to apply the handbrake to hiring. There are other ways than employers’ national insurance contributions to finding the revenue for public services. Liberal Democrats suggest increasing taxes on the social media and tech giants, but digital services taxes seem set to go down, not up, to be more Trump-friendly and tariff-avoiding.
Elsewhere – and highly relevant to our rural area – the sudden scrapping of the Sustainable Farming Initiative added another layer of uncertainty for farmers. Once again, the government said one thing and did another. Pre-election, Labour was the ‘friend of agriculture’ and stressed the sector’s importance for health and food security. Sadly, the debacle of inheritance tax on family farms and now this additional blow to incomes and more sustainable agriculture gives completely the opposite impression.
Overall, I have the sense of pent-up energy in the economic engine: wanting to get on and grow, but the tyres are spinning because of incoherent and self-defeating policy. In these nervous times, the Liberal Democrats in North Dorset stand for stability, compassion, and a commitment to fairness. We believe in a strong economy that works for everyone, a social safety net that protects the most vulnerable, and a government that acts with integrity and intelligence.
Gary Jackson
North Dorset Liberal Democrats
