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Adam Afriyie
MP for Windsor
Caring for people through
freedom, enterprise, and strong defence.
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Articles and
Speeches
Another Pre-Budget
Statement
09-Dec-05, Windsor Express
Article.
"Yesterday, the Chancellor gave his
pre-budget statement. Surprisingly, Mr Brown tried to
blame the UK’s slow growth rate on the price of oil.
It’s just not good enough!
The facts are: our growth rate is now one of the lowest
in the EU; we have dropped from 4th in 1997 to 13th in
global competitiveness; total tax taken by the Government
will have risen by 80% since 1997 - 4 times the rate of
inflation. But this extra cash has done little to improve
hospitals, schools, pensions or the ever-present problems of
anti-social behaviour.
There will be a £32 billion shortfall this year and
experts predict that the Chancellor will need to raise a
further £10 billion to fill the black hole he has created.
Figures like this are so large as to be almost
incomprehensible, but when I worked out that this will cost
average households a further £1200 per year, it became clear
that this Government is costing Britain dearly.
The “prudent” Chancellor has in fact been anything but
prudent. The economy looks strong but it is a house built on
sand. My only hope is that some remnant of the strong
economy Mr Brown inherited in 1997 will remain after he has
finished with it.
If we care about the less well-off, the elderly and
vulnerable we must manage our economy more wisely." |
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I
believe...
People are happier when making their own decisions.
Business is the engine of the economy that generates our
jobs, incomes and taxes.
Government should not interfere in our lives beyond
protecting and defending us.
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