A bad budget for working families, the vulnerable and our young people
Last week’s summer budget from George Osborne has left working people worse off and fails the test of building a more productive economy.
No amount of Tory spin can hide the fact that this is a bad budget for working families, our most vulnerable and our young people.
You can’t be the party of working people if you deliver a Budget which leaves those on middle and low incomes worse off, which fails to boost productivity and ducks the big issues on infrastructure.
Housing is major issue in this constituency and I have long called for the UK and Scottish Governments to launch an ambitious house building programme in Rutherglen and Cambuslang, however their record on this issue is one of failure and last week’s Budget offered just more of the same.
With a housing build initiative comes new jobs and apprenticeships and what we need more than ever is high quality training and apprenticeships for young people, not rebadging of existing qualifications and training already taking place.
Let’s create the skilled workforce needed to boost productivity and wages.
On infrastructure Britain is ranked 27th in the World Economic Forum’s rankings for infrastructure investment – this is simply not good enough.
Fairness should be at the heart of the Government’s approach to housing.
David Cameron and George Osborne should not get distracted from the real problem of a chronic lack of affordable house building across the country.
The Budget was less about economic strategy, more about political tactics designed by the Chancellor to help him move in next door to Number 10.
From next year, Scotland has the opportunity to do things differently.
With the new powers coming to the Scottish Parliament, we can deliver a fairer budget for young people, working families and our vulnerable.
The challenge for the SNP Government in Edinburgh is to make clear how they will use these significant new powers to make a real difference to working families in Scotland.
All aboard…
Last Wednesday I stopped by the Rutherglen Health centre to show my support for the Play Talk Read bus which helps youngsters enjoy a better start in life.
As a father myself I could see immediately see the benefits of the play bus facilities, which offers some truly innovative ideas through games, stories and songs.
Playing, talking and reading with your young children can make them happier and healthier now and in the future.
If you have young children I would highly recommended visiting the play bus – more information can be found on their Facebook page –‘Play Talk Read’.