This week the Chancellor told us how much money each government department would get and how they would use it. What we got is a balanced and fair settlement that boosts growth and rewards work:
- Spending on the NHS and schools protected. The NHS budget in 2016 will be 14% higher than in 2010.
- Council tax frozen for a further two years, saving £100 on bills for the average working family.
- An overall cap on welfare spending from April 2015. Benefit claimants who do not speak English will be required to learn or lose out.
- A further £50 billion in capital spending on roads, rail, broadband and science.
- No further cuts to armed services personnel and a guaranteed year on year increase in the equipment budget.
Labour have no consistency and no credibility on the economy. Ed Miliband says Labour will match Conservative spending discipline, but refuses to come clean on where spending would be reined in. Ed Balls says Labour will not go as far and fast on spending reductions, but will not admit that this means borrowing more money to get us out of debt - we can only imagine what the credit card bills look like in the Balls-Cooper household.
The British economy is healing. One million private sector jobs have been created and 250,000 new business started since 2010.
We have cut income tax for 24 million people and abolished income tax for 2.2 million low earners. The UK budget deficit has been cut by a third and will be cut in half by the time of the next General Election in 2015. Britain is rising again.
Don’t let Labour take us back to the dark days of 2008.