Craig Tracey, the Member of Parliament for North Warwickshire and Bedworth has commended Budget announcements which will see tax cuts for residents, rate relief for high street businesses and investment in public services such as the NHS and schools.
The local MP commented:
“Since inheriting an economy that had suffered the worst recession in peacetime, with borrowing of over £150 billion a year and unemployment had increased by nearly half a million, the Government and the British people have worked extremely hard over the last 8 years to turn the situation around.
“Therefore I am really encouraged by the Chancellor’s announcements alongside underlining that we must continue to act responsibly with our economy. Local people will keep more of their hard-earned wages with the raise in the Personal Allowance to £12,500 and Higher Rate Threshold to £50,000. As a former small business owner and someone who has been advocating improvement to our local town centres such as in Bedworth, I am delighted that we are backing high streets by cutting business rates by a third for two years. Rates will be cut by a third for retailers with rateable value under £51,000, saving up to 90 per cent of all shops up to £8,000 each year.
“Councils will also benefit from an additional £1 billion of funding. Crucially we will support councils with £650 million for social care, £84 million for children’s social care programmes over five years and £420 million for potholes this year. I know that many residents in North Warwickshire and Bedworth will welcome this.”
The budget also revealed that the level of unemployment in West Midlands is down by a staggering 42 per cent since 2010.
The Chancellor Philip Hammond revealed that each primary school would receive an additional average £10,000 and secondary schools an average £50,000 to help purchase equipment.
Mr Hammond also confirmed the biggest cash investment in the history of the NHS:
‘We have fully-funded the cash settlement that was set out in June – which equates to £20.5 billion more in real terms by 2023-24, and an average real growth rate in the NHS’s budget of 3.4 per cent a year.’