Tameside's three Labour MPs have given their reaction to the Budget delivered by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who vowed to "protect the jobs and livelihoods of the British people" as the country emerges from the coronavirus crisis.
Laying out how the UK will recover from the pandemic, Mr Sunak set out a three-part plan in the House of Commons on Wednesday (3 March).
He said: "First, we will continue doing whatever it takes to support the British people and businesses through this moment of crisis.
"Second, once we are on the way to recovery, we will need to begin fixing the public finances – and I want to be honest today about our plans to do that.
"And, third, in today's budget, we begin the work of building our future economy."
He extended furlough until September and unveiled plans to increase corporation tax for large companies from 2023 as part of a raft of announcements.
But Tameside's three MPs Angela Rayner, Jonathan Reynolds and Andrew Gwynne accused Mr Sunak of "totally dodging many key issues" and "kicking the can down the road" in his statement.
'I suppose last year's clapping will have to pay for this year's bills'
MP Angela Rayner - who represents Ashton, Droylsden and Failsworth - believes the Chancellor delivered a "quick-fix Budget that does little more than paper over the cracks".
The deputy leader of the Labour Party said: "After the disastrous decisions made by this government over the last year and the decade of neglect under their rule, we needed a Budget to fix the foundations of our economy, to reward our key workers, to protect the NHS and to build a more secure and prosperous economy for the future.
"Instead, we got a Budget that papered over the cracks, rather than rebuilding the foundations. We got a Budget that shows the government doesn’t understand what went wrong in the last decade or what’s needed in the next. I must have missed the bit where the Chancellor announced a pay rise for health and social care workers so I suppose last year's clapping will have to pay this year's bills.
"This Budget won’t feel so good for the millions of key workers who are having their pay frozen, the businesses across my constituency swamped by debt and worrying about whether they will be able to reopen, the families paying more in council tax and the millions of people who are out of work or worried about losing their job.
"The Chancellor referred to the last 10 years of Tory rule. Look at our economy as a result of those 10 years – there are 3.6 million people in insecure work, wages have stagnated, over four million children are living in poverty, there are 100,000 unfilled posts in the NHS and we have a social care system that has been ignored and underfunded for a decade.
"If this had been a Budget to rebuild the foundations it would have put the NHS and social care front and centre and it would have had the means to fix our broken social security system. Instead, the Chancellor has been shamed into extending the £20 uplift in Universal Credit – but only for a few months leaving the six million families relying on it with yet more uncertainty.
"My constituents have done their bit over the past year to help control the virus and now there is light at the end of the tunnel as our wonderful NHS plough ahead with the vaccine rollout. They deserve so much more than a quick fix Budget that does little more than paper over the cracks."
'The response just did not match the scale of the challenge'
Stalybridge and Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds, who is also the Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions, felt the Chancellor "failed entirely to tackle the threat of a youth unemployment crisis".
He commented: “The UK was crying out for a Budget to put us on the road to recovery, and right the wrongs of the last decade by rebuilding our economic foundations. What the Chancellor presented today just papers over the cracks. It totally dodged many key issues, from the social care crisis, to the NHS, to anything to tackle inequality.
"Most of all, the Chancellor failed entirely to tackle the threat of a youth unemployment crisis. The Chancellor just presented a forecast for a level of unemployment that is still very high. The response just did not match the scale of the challenge. We needed to see a cast iron guarantee that another generation of young people won’t end up on the scrap heap.
"Constituents may know I’ve spent much of the last few months arguing against the Government’s previous intention to cut Universal Credit in this Budget. To do so would have been simply unthinkable, but it’s shameful that the Chancellor had to be dragged kicking and screaming to extend the £20 a week uplift today.
"We are still facing unemployment at 6.5 per cent with historically low levels of out of work support. The uplift should stay until Universal Credit is replaced with a fair and functional system."
'This Budget was just a very expensive way of kicking the can down the road'
Denton and Reddish's Labour MP Andrew Gwynne welcomed some of the "eye-catching announcements" but felt the Chancellor "completely failed to meet the challenge" of supporting a "long-term plan for rebuilding our economy and country after a disastrous year".
He said: “I welcome the extension of furlough and the business support. However, beyond freezing tax allowances, which in effect brings more people into paying tax, or paying at higher rates, there was little to explain how hundreds of billions of pounds will be paid back.
“I’ve always taken the view it should be parked and treated in the same way as Second World War debts were; paying back over generations, so not to impact on day-to-day spending on our public services, or on capital and infrastructure spending.
“The crisis has shown the terrible consequences of over a decade of the Tories slashing public services, but the Chancellor has missed an opportunity to reinvest and rebuild these services, instead focusing on some tokenistic moves that he’s spinning as “levelling up”.
“The social care crisis remains unresolved, despite countless promises from the Government that they have a plan, and our brilliant key workers will have no reward for their work keeping the country going over the past year.
“Hundreds of thousands remain excluded from any Covid support schemes and many thousands more face bankruptcy as the Chancellor refuses to properly tackle the cladding and fire safety crisis. Looking beyond the headlines, flashy videos and spin, this Budget was just a very expensive way of kicking the can down the road. Unfortunately, it still remains unclear what the Government’s strategy is to get our economy back on track.”
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