Commenting on the Chancellor’s Budget announcement, Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary said:
“The Chancellor argued that this was a Budget for those who wish to ‘start, grow and finance’ a business. It certainly wasn’t a Budget for those who are looking for a job.
“As his own growth forecast is cut, the Chancellor’s problem is twofold: his Government still has no coherent strategy for growth and all the credible international comparative evidence confirms that the UK is already a very lightly regulated economy. He deliberately and scandalously ignores the impact of deregulation on workers, communities and the environment. Vulnerable workers such as single parents will be particularly badly hit by further deregulation of the workplace.
“The cuts in fuel duty and rise in income tax personal allowances are not nearly enough to offset the decline in real wages and falling household incomes brought about by the Government’s own policies.
“Once again, the Budget made it crystal clear that we are not ‘all in this together’. Corporations will benefit from substantial tax cuts as unemployment continues to rise. Those who caused the crisis draw large bonuses as ordinary workers suffer growing economic insecurity and inequality. It is difficult to envisage a Budget less suited to the problems the country faces at this time”.
ENDS
Notes
The STUC’s Budget Submission includes (pages 6 – 9) a comparative analysis of the regulatory ‘burden’ in developed economies: Download here
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