Craig Mackinlay has welcomed the increases in personal allowances and the introduction of a new compulsory national living wage announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in yesterday’s Summer Budget.
“There will be 29 million people in this country with lower tax bills and 4 million out of tax altogether,” Craig said in his response to the Budget. “That amounts to £5,000 extra to the low-paid over the Parliament.”
Commenting on other measures in the Budget, Craig also took the opportunity to champion other issues of particular interest to South Thanet. Noting, for instance, how the road fund licence will in future be used for road funding, he told the Commons, “I already have my eye on the dualling of the A256 so that we can have a proper east Kent highway from Ramsgate to Dover.”
Regarding the freezing of fuel duty, Craig noted that this “now represents up to £10 per tank-fill compared with what might have been the case had we continued with the fuel tax escalator imposed by the Labour party some years ago.
“That is particularly relevant for those on low pay. In my constituency, we suffer from lower rates of pay than in the rest of the south-east. It is mostly the low-paid who suffer from higher fuel taxes, as fuel represents a high proportion of their disposable income.”
Addressing perceived inequalities in the treatment of inheritance tax, Craig suggested that “it would be simpler for every person to have a nominated inheritance tax recipient, rather than it having to be a spouse or civil partner.”
Craig also remarked on the Chancellor’s observation that Britain is home to 1% of the world’s population, generates 4% of the world’s income, and yet pays out 7% of the world’s welfare spending: “We have created the most expensive system of keeping people in poverty that has ever been invented.”
Welcoming how the Conservative Government was already delivering on its manifesto commitments, Craig concluded, “There is now a better chance than ever to get a good job or a first-class apprenticeship.
“This is what we intend to deliver for this country: a country of opportunity where everybody gets on.”
Watch Craig's speech on Parliament.TV