Responding to the Government’s Spring Statement, which updates Parliament and the nation on the economy and public finances, Daisy Cooper MP said:
“People in St Albans and across the country are crying out for change but they tell me they feel like they’re just getting more of the same.
“Of course it was the Conservative party that wrecked the public finances but now that we’re eight months into this new government, people have been left wondering: where is the change we were promised?
“After years of Conservative mismanagement, people can see just how broken our public services are. They cannot see a GP, they cannot see a dentist, they may be fighting for an education plan for their child or picking up the pieces of a broken social care system.
“Everything is broken. Nothing works. That is why people are impatient for the change they were promised
“After the Government’s disastrous Budget, the Government had the chance today to change direction, fix our finances, kick-start growth and deliver a Small Business Budget.
“The Chancellor should’ve used this opportunity to scrap her self-defeating jobs tax, rethink her business rates changes and finally start rebuilding our trading relationship with Europe.
“The Government could have scrapped the jobs tax, which will hammer our high streets, and instead ask the big banks, social media giants and online gambling companies to pay their fair share instead.
“The Government could have changed their approach to trade, launching talks to boost growth through a new trading deal with our European neighbours and to stand up to Trump.
“Instead, the Government have made the wrong decisions to cut public services, hit disabled people and inflict more pain on struggling families, small businesses and high streets. In doing so, they have delivered no change and almost no growth at all.”