Labour calls for 3 more u-turns from the Tory-led government

Wakefield MP Mary Creagh has called for the Tory-led Government to perform three more U-turns to get our economy out of the mess it’s in and help people in the city.

David Cameron and George Osborne promised change and they promised to secure the recovery, but their failed policies have delivered a double-dip recession made in Downing Street. Families and businesses are paying the price for their mistakes with prices rising faster than wages, companies going bust and long-term unemployment at a 17 year high.

And they’re even failing on the deficit – because with the economy pushed into recession and more people out of work claiming benefits rather than paying taxes, the Government is borrowing £150 billion more than they planned.

The out of touch, incompetent Tory-led Government keep making the wrong choices.  As a result David Cameron and George Osborne have been forced into embarrassing U-turns, changing course on the ‘pasty tax’, ‘charity tax’, ‘caravan tax’ and ‘skip tax’. 

The unravelling Budget is just the latest in a long list of chaotic U-turns. From plans to scrap free school milk to their promise to introduce tough knife crime sentences; from cutting Child Benefit to selling off our forests – David Cameron is lurching from one reversal to another.

But on their most disastrous decisions – the tax cut for millionaires, the ‘granny tax’ that will hit 363,000 pensioners in Yorkshire from next year, and their failed economic plan which has pushed us into a double-dip recession – they’re going straight ahead, despite the unfair consequences.

Mary Creagh said: “The UK is in a double-dip recession made in Downing Street but the out of touch Tory-led Government refuses to change course, despite a series of recent U-turns.

“We desperately need a change of direction.  That’s why Labour is calling on the Government to reverse the failed Tory economic plan and urgently put in place Labour’s plan for jobs and growth including a bankers’ bonus tax to fund youth jobs. It should also reverse its cut in the 50p rate of tax so that in tough times the richest pay their fair share and it should scrap the ‘granny tax’ so that pensioners aren’t unfairly hit.

“The Tories promised change, but failed to deliver. Only Labour stands for fairness in tough times.”

Despite its recent U-turns the Tory-led Government is continuing with:

• The 50p top rate of tax – putting the wrong people first with a £40,000 tax cut for millionaires, while millions pay more.
• A failed economic plan which has pushed us into a double-dip recession, and which means borrowing is now higher than last year.
• The “granny tax” – making 4.4 million pensioners lose an average of £83 from next year.