News from the New Party

UK needs to wake up and end this economic 'Greek tragedy'

Having stuck the knife in with 12 years of economic incompetence, the Labour Government will further twist the blade on 9 December with the Chancellor Alistair Darling outlining a range of tax hikes that will only serve to punish UK tax payers further, New Party leader Richard Vass said today.
 
"We need to end this madness. We need wealth creation to tackle the level of debt the UK is burdened with. Reports are suggesting the Chancellor is seeking to hike VAT incrementally to 20% and raise capital gains tax to 25%-30%. This is not the sharp shock to stabilise the economy spoken of at the CBI conference yesterday, it is a Greek tragedy in the making," said Vass today.
 
Report after report highlights Labour's failure, he says. It has always touted itself as the party of the poor. In reality it is the party creating the poor. Official figures* show there is a record number of working-age adults without children living below the breadline.
 
"Real incomes of the poor are now lower than they were in even 2005, with cleaners and care assistants now having to get by on £9 less than they were three years ago. We need to free minimum wage earners from income tax now in order to give those on the breadline more money in their pockets," he said.
 
While systematically failing the economy, Labour has also failed to get a grip on government spending. A new report from the Taxpayers' Alliance** shows that the total net overrun on 240 Government projects was more than £19billion, or £750 per household.
 
As ironic as it seems, even local authorities are complaining about government waste. New Local Government Association figures*** show households in Britain are paying a collective £4.5billion in extra tax so that authorities can simply produce paperwork showing they have hit centrally imposed targets.
 
Vass: "It is bad enough people have to live through a recession brought on by incompetence, but asking people to live with the knowledge that Government is forcing innocent taxpayers to foot the bill while it wastes billions each year is a level of arrogance many would find hard to achieve. This madness needs to end."
 
The New Party believes Local Authorities should only be responsible for the administration of individual local services. National services, such as social welfare, should become the responsibility of specialist bodies working to sensible budgets, and wherever possible more control should be handed to individual users of services, such as giving parents more say in the education of their children.
 
The UK needs to wake up to the extent of the Labour mess, he says, and don't expect the Tories to fix the problem.
 
"While we can’t judge a future Tory government in power, we can judge their performance in opposition. It is the job of an opposition to keep the government in check and the Tories have allowed this situation to develop on their watch.
 
"New party policy is about getting people into work and off welfare dependency. It is about reducing welfare costs, and making corporate tax rates the lowest possible to attract wealth-makers back to the UK. It is about releasing minimum wage earners from income tax and implementing a flat low rate of income tax to repatriate tax exiles.
 
"The level of mess we are in can only be fixed by wealth creation stimulated by lowering taxes and by getting a handle on public spending. Without these, long-lasting economic health is impossible," said Vass.

* Figures taken from the annual Households Below Average Income data from the Department of Work and Pensions
** The report Out of Control: How the Government overspends on capital projects can be accessed here: http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/bettergovernment/2009/11/out-of-control-how-the-government-overspends-on-capital-projects.html
*** Figures taken from the Local Government Association report Delivering more for less: maximising value in the public sector. www.lga.gov.uk