THE LEADER Of Harlow Labour has slammed the Conservative government’s budget.

Councillor Chris Vince said: “The Conservative MP for Harlow praising a Conservative government’s budget comes as no surprise.  If you search ‘Robert Halfon praises’ on YourHarlow you will find he has done just this every year since they came to power in 2010. Most notably, Mr Halfon enthusiastically backed the last years disastrous Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwateng budget which trashed the economy and cost the country more than £60 billion.  So although Mr Halfon will try to distance himself from the disaster of successive Conservative government’s austerity measures and the cost-of-living crisis, he has very much been a supporter of the policies that have made so many people poorer.

Just like the local Council Conservative budget, the Conservative government’s budget does little to help people in Harlow who are really struggling after 13 years of the rich getting richer while the rest of the country get poorer.

This Budget was a chance for the government to unlock Britain’s promise and potential.  Instead, they decided to continue papering over the cracks of 13 years of economic failure. The only surprise was a handout for the richest 1% and their pension pots.  Despite the chancellor’s boasts about child care none of his measures will be implemented before any of children already born are too old to benefit!

Growth was downgraded in this Tory Budget with the UK the only G7 country expected to have negative growth in the coming year, but Labour will not allow us to keep bumping along this path of managed decline. With our mission to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7, we will create good jobs and productivity growth across every part of our country. Where this Conservative government has thrown in the towel, Labour will build a better Britain.