Steve Yemm column: Chancellor’s Budget fixes the foundations

As your MP, I know just how tough things have been for people here in Mansfield and Warsop. The Conservatives crashed the economy and local people have paid the price with mortgage and rent prices soaring, sluggish growth, and public services crumbling around us.

The Tories wasted billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on their failed asylum system, propping up private rail companies and dodgy COVID contracts - leaving a recurring £22 billion black hole (year on year) in the nation’s finances and public services on their knees. They made working people pick up the bill for their chaos and decline.

We now have a government that will deliver for working people here in Mansfield.

Labour has made the choice to protect working people's pay slips by keeping our promise not to raise National Insurance, Income Tax, or VAT. In fact, we have even removed the burden of paying any Employer’s NI at all for many small businesses. We will focus on growing our economy through investment, so that we can rebuild Britain and fix our schools, hospitals, and broken roads.

This is a Budget that will fix the foundations of the economy and deliver the change that people voted for.

I was invited to speak in the House of Commons on budget day following the Chancellor’s announcement at the dispatch box. I took the opportunity to outline how the budget will power my 5 Missions for Mansfield that I was elected to deliver on earlier this year. A recording of which can be found online on Facebook.

When we were elected to government, we knew it wouldn’t be easy to fix the mess the Conservatives had made. We need to make tough but necessary decisions on spending and welfare, crack down on fraud, tax avoidance and waste, and make sure every single penny of taxpayer money is spent wisely. I will now set to work with my colleagues in Government to deliver the benefits of this budget across our area.

It is now time to turn the page on Tory failure, and to start a new chapter focused on making Britain better off. Whether that’s putting more pounds in people’s pockets; delivering 40,000 more NHS appointments each week; building the affordable homes we need; or fixing our crumbling schools, this week's Budget invests in Britain's future.

As your MP, I will always fight to secure the investment, jobs and public services that we deserve. After 14 years of Conservative chaos, we finally have a Chancellor, and a government, that is on our side.