Harman hammers stifling strategy
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Labour acting leader Harriet Harman slammed the emergency Budget, saying it will stifle growth and make it harder to cut the deficit.
She accused the LibDems of letting voters down by bowing to pressure from the Conservatives to accept spending cuts they had opposed before the election. She said cuts will hit the private sector as well as the public sector and added it is a “reckless Budget which pulls the rug out from under the economy”.
She told the House of Commons: “The Chancellor says his top priority is cutting the deficit. But in order to get the deficit down, you need to keep economic growth up and you need to keep unemployment down. Today’s Budget is bad for growth and that will make it harder to cut the deficit.
“During the election campaign, the LibDems attacked what they called the Tory secret VAT bombshell. Little did we know the LibDems had their own secret bombshell to drop on us - that they would vote for it. How can they now support everything they were against? How could they let down all the people who voted for them?”
But she said Labour supports the capital gains tax rise, welcomes the retention of the 50p tax rate and backs the banking levy. During the election campaign, Labour said it might raise th rate of VAT but not its scope and would halve the deficit by 2014.
The Government says it will eliminate the £77bn structural deficit during the term of the Parliament which would be by 2015/16. Osborne told MPs: “Today, we have paid the debts of a failed past and laid the foundations for a more prosperous future.”
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