Danny Chambers MP comment on the Spring Budget

We will not achieve growth and prosperity by taxing small businesses and cutting public services. 

If the government goes ahead with the cuts and taxes we're expecting in this Spring Statement, all we will see is an increase to the cost of living, the poorest in our society pushed even further to the edge and rising debt levels for small businesses. 

Instead of abandoning public services and burdening businesses with increased costs, we need government and enterprise thriving together.

This government is so focused on their costs, they're not seeing the value of what they're cutting. Health, education, social care, transport - We know good investments in these sectors yield huge returns and make us richer. Cutting them makes us poorer as a nation. This government, just like the last, is insisting we cannot afford to pay for them, but I say - we cannot afford to cut them!

School funding is a perfect example. Speaking with school leadership teams from across Winchester has shown me the hard work they do under difficult circumstances and the funding challenges they face to deliver essential support like breakfast clubs and vital provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Funding these provisions prevents much bigger costs to society later on in a child's life.

The Conservatives failed with our economy for years. We were supposed to have a new government that turned the page on that failed project and tried something new. This is just more of the same.

 I will be taking what I’ve learned from speaking with schools, care providers and everyone in Winchester and the Meon Valley who will be affected by the cuts we’re expecting to see in this Spring Statement and doing what I can to push back against the decisions the government is taking.

Let’s be clear, the Chancellor is choosing to place additional burdens on small business, on healthcare providers, on the disabled. They’ll keep calling them “tough choices” that they don’t really want to make. But there are plenty of choices they’re ignoring. They could tax the oil giants, the big banks, the gambling industry, the social media tech barons, none of which are really paying their fair share. They could restore our relationship with Europe and rejoin a customs union. Why do they find those choices so much harder to make?