HAMMOND UNDER FIRE
Opposition MPs and charities have slammed the Autumn Budget for failing to address key policy areas, including defence, policing, renewable energy and social care.
Policing: Louise Haigh, Labour’s Shadow Policing Minister, called the Budget “a disaster for our nation’s security”, claiming the lack of increased funding for police “will cost 6000 more officers by 2020”.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was “beyond belief” Mr Hammond did not mention counter-terrorism initiatives, adding “Tory Government cuts are making us less safe”.
The only mention of policing in the budget came in a VAT exemption for police and fire services in Scotland. Defence: Labour MPs called the
omission of defence policy from the budget “absolutely astonishing”.
The only mention of the armed forces came in reference to accommodation for personnel, which Shadow Defence Secretary and Llanelli MP Nia Griffith said was “little comfort to forces families if they’re forced into the private rented sector”.
Social care: Jeremy Corbyn focused on the lack of social care initiatives in his response to the Budget in Parliament.
“Over £6bn would have been cut from social care budgets by next March,” he said. “I hope the honourable member begins to understand what it’s like to wait for social care stuck in a hospital bed while other people are having to give up their work to care for them.”
The Marie Curie charity, which supports terminally ill people, tweeted: “We are now left with another year without the urgent Government action needed to support social care. That’s a long time to wait for the hundreds of thousands of dying people left without the services they need.”
Renewable energy: Caroline Lucas, the Green MP for Brighton, called the Government’s decision to hold back decisions on renewable energy until 2025 an “outrage”.
“How on Earth can the Government be ‘forward-looking’ when they give tax breaks to oil and gas and fail to support renewables?” she tweeted.
Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat MP and former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said the Budget was “a disaster for low-carbon energy”.