CONSERVATIVE hopeful Stuart Penketh has warned that the Budget is not the ‘routemap to recovery’ that Britain needs.
The Conservative candidate for Ellesmere Port and Neston described it as ‘the death rattle of a tired and discredited Government’.
Mr Penketh claims the International Monetary Fund contradicted the Chancellor’s forecast that the economy would shrink 3.5% this year and then grow annually by the same figure from 2011.
“The tragedy was that instead of being honest about that mess they had created, taking responsibility for the mistakes they had made and giving us a credible plan to pull Britain through, which we could all support, we got that complete fantasy”, he said.
“It would be laughable if it were not so serious.”
Mr Penketh said the introduction of a 50% tax rate in the Budget was a ‘headline-grabbing measure’ that would actually raise less money than the National Insurance rise on jobs, and on ordinary people earning £20,000 a year and above.
“For years Gordon Brown said the choice was between the many versus the few. Now he is raising taxes on the many and the few – including a tax on jobs in a recovery.
“After a decade of economic mistakes, Gordon Brown is saddling this country with over £1 trillion of debt that is £23,000 per person. Britain cannot afford another five years of Labour.”
He added: “If the Conservatives had given this Budget we would have got a grip on Government spending and used the savings from cutting waste to introduce real help now for families and pensioners.
“We would have done it by freezing council tax for two years, worth over £200 for the typical family, abolishing income tax on savings for all basic rate taxpayers, worth up to £7,200 a year.
“By raising the income tax threshold for pensioners, worth up to £400 a year, and help for the unemployed to improve their skills and re-skill during the recession and tax breaks for companies who create new jobs.”
