When you hear the frequent speeches, or should I say relaunches of Ed Miliband’s leadership, one would think that only Labour and Labour alone care about the cost of living.
Whilst today Ed managed to remember to mention the deficit, he never mentions the inconvenient truth. That
Labour presided over, post war, both the longest and the deepest recession since the war. Not only that Labour knew about the squeeze on living standards started before the recession affected wage increases, Liam Byrne said: “A special four-strong team of officials drafted a document that spotted that the rot had set in back in 2005”.
Add to that the tax hikes Labour imposed;
(1) Labour doubled income tax for the poorest by abolishing the 10p tax band.
(2) Council tax doubled under Labour. Council Tax soared under Labour with bills hitting £1,439 on an average Band D home in England in 2010/11, an increase of 109 per cent on 1997 costing hardworking families an extra £751 a year.
(3) Labour raised the rate of fuel duty 12 times while in office and planned for six further fuel duty rises after the election.
Yes, but what have the Conservatives done?
(1) Our long-term economic plan has kept mortgage rates low by not increasing borrowing. Families are benefitting from low mortgage rates – the two-year 75 per cent LTV fixed rate in September 2014 was 2.46 per cent.
(2) Cutting income tax for over 26 million people. We have increased the personal allowance to £10,000, a typical tax cut of £705. Over 3 million people on the lowest incomes will pay no income tax. Someone working full-time on the minimum wage will have had their income tax bill cut in half.
(3) We’ve frozen fuel duty so families are saving £360 on petrol if they fill up their car once a week. We have cancelled Labour’s planned fuel duty rises, making petrol 13p per litre cheaper than it would have been.
(4) Funding to freeze council tax so families keep more of the money they earn. For four years we have offered councils money so that they have the option to freeze their council tax and help their hardworking residents. Where councils have accepted our offers, council tax will have fallen by up to 11 per cent in real terms since 2010, saving people an average of £281 a year on an average Band D property.
(5) Rolling back green levies and making sure people get the cheapest deal on their electricity. By cutting green taxes we have saved people an average £50 on their energy bills and through the Energy Bill we have taken steps to ensure people get the best energy tariff deal. This could save households as much as £158.
(6) Delivered the biggest ever cash rise in the Basic State Pension. The Government introduced the triple lock to guarantee that the Basic State Pension always increases in line with earnings, inflation, or 2.5 per cent – whichever is highest.
That is why I think the Conservative are delivering a better deal for the British people.
