Budget 2007 – Boosting the Local Economy
Last week’s Budget will make a big difference to the North East of England. The expenditure announcements increase spending on public services, take spending on education to the highest levels ever, and raise the point at which people over 65 start to pay income tax by £1,180 – taking 600,000 pensioners across the country out of income tax altogether.
Spending on education, to give youngsters the best possible start in life, is so important to the North East of England. Spending the same amount on our community’s youngsters as Tory toffs spend on having their children educated privately is the Labour Party’s ultimate aim. We are getting there and locally, the results of this policy are already apparent with brand new schools and strong exam results.
The emphasis in the Budget on energy efficiency and measures to tackle climate change, combined with the Chancellor’s announcement of an increased science budget is of special importance to Tyne & Wear. Our strengths in the energy and engineering sectors ought to enable us to make a real contribution to combating climate change. Newcastle already has Science City status and combining this with potential engineering developments north of the River Tyne could bring new jobs as well as leading edge science and engineering projects.
Child Tax Credit is up by £150 a year. Working Tax Credit is up £1,200 a year to £6,420. Child Benefit rises, in three stages, to £20 a week – it was £11 just for the first child when we were elected in 1997, and only £9 for subsequent children. All of this combined with the 2p cut in the basic rate of Income Tax to 20p pushes forward the Government’s policy of making work pay. The increase in in-work tax benefits raise the income of the lower paid.
The economy of the North East of England is not the same as the rest of the United Kingdom’s. We have gone through a difficult transition from heavy engineering, shipbuilding and mining to a more service-based economy. No English region has done more to help itself than ours. The measures in the Budget recognise this and give our local economy a welcome boost.
