It is a very unsettled and challenging time in several parts of the world. Much of it is out of our control although we continue to support Ukraine and call for more humanitarian aid to safely get to Gaza, and it is right we stand with Middle Eastern nations and people from Israel to Saudi Arabia who want to live peacefully and not be menaced and damaged by the aggressive and malign theocracy in Iran.
This month things should get a little bit easier at home with the energy price cap coming down and with the economy improving families across the country should start to notice a difference.
National Insurance is down from 12% last year to 8% now, putting an extra £900 in the pocket of workers on an average wage. I should really say allowing it to remain in their pockets, as it’s not the Government who has earned that money. Better still, and something I have campaigned on for years, is the ambition eventually to scrap the tax altogether. It gives people the false impression they are paying into an insurance scheme for health and retirement when it’s really just a top up income tax, spent in-year.
The State Pension has increased by 8.5% honouring the commitment to the triple lock and pensions are now substantially more than they were when we took office. The threshold for Child Benefit has also increased and broadened in scope meaning 170,000 more families will receive the full amount, and the expansion of free childcare has potential to free people up for our workforce. There are perhaps no greater multi-taskers than the parents of young children.
So lots of good news at the start of the new financial year. Readers of this column will know I have been campaigning for a “simpler and fairer tax system” for years so I was delighted to see those exact words used in a recent Government announcement.
Labour’s pitch so far consists of making the wealthy move abroad, creating loads more quangos, hitching defence and security to the EU, making everything about race, reviving disastrous PFI under which they’d pretend not to borrow hundreds of billions of pounds while doing just that, putting independent schools out of business and swelling local school class sizes. The Liberal Democrat platform seems just to be that Ed Davey was not to blame for the absolute human tragedy of the Post Office scandal, which is odd because the Lib Dems insisted on having that portfolio throughout the key coalition years and a certain Ed Davey as its Minister rebuffed attempts to highlight the problems.
I was pleased to see that the refurbishment of Chard Police Station is progressing and plans have been laid out. It will improve the environment not just for members of the public but for officers based there too. Investing in the Police has been another long standing campaign of mine, both at a national level and locally such as keeping the station in Yeovil.
Finally it’s been fantastic to see the spirit at Yeovil Town FC shine through and translate into results!