The Budget: A Missed Opportunity
In the Budget, the Government had a fantastic opportunity to offer our country hope, aspiration and ambition. Sadly, it missed that opportunity for South Cotswolds residents and others across our United Kingdom.
This Budget could have started to reverse the damage done by the Conservatives, when families saw their living standards fall, public services buckle and opportunities narrow. At a moment when the country is crying out for renewal, instead the Chancellor offered more of the same: short-term fixes, headline-grabbing gimmicks, millions more dragged into higher tax brackets, and no credible long-term plan.
Nowhere is this clearer than in local government finance. Our local Councils face intolerable pressure to cut services while still being forced to hike council tax yet again. The Government could have offered multi-year funding settlements and a proper long-term plan for adult social care and special educational needs, restoring certainty and giving councils the tools to plan sustainably. Instead, it tinkered at the edges and ignored the red flashing warning lights of a deepening crisis.
The Liberal Democrats set out clear, practical demands for this Budget. We urged Ministers to cut energy bills through a national home insulation programme that would create jobs, cut emissions and permanently reduce costs for households. We called for a 5% VAT cut for hospitality and fundamental reform of business rates to support our struggling high streets. We demanded a proper Windfall Tax on the huge profits of oil and gas companies, big banks and global tech giants that could have paid for our measures and also supported meaningful investment in the NHS and social care to tackle the waiting lists harming so many families.
We also set out the need for a reset of the UK’s trading relationship with the EU, our largest market. No Budget can deliver the growth Britain needs while these barriers to trade, skills and investment remain in place. Restoring cooperation, rebuilding trust and significant improvement to access to European markets would give British businesses the real growth opportunities they urgently need.
On the cost of living, too, Ministers have failed to grasp the scale of the challenge. More and more residents will struggle this Christmas with soaring food bills, punishing housing costs and energy prices far higher than just a few years ago. Rather than offering real help, the Budget delivered measures that barely touch hard-pressed family finances.
While the Government cherry-picked a few of our ideas, it failed to adopt any of these urgent priorities in full. People deserve better and they know it.
This Budget could have been a turning point. Instead, it reminded us why Britain desperately needs the change we Liberal Democrats offer.
Featured Photo: Chris Packham opens the National Emergency Briefing by holding aloft a photo of Planet Earth, evoking the words of Carl Sagan that this pale blue dot is all we have: “There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.” Listen to the great man himself here.
A few of the things I've done this week...
✅ Attended the National Emergency Briefing in Methodist Central Hall, a gathering of over 1,000 people to hear 9 experts give us the unvarnished truth on what the UK faces over the coming decades if we don’t face the intertwined crises of climate and nature – and it’s not good. Our ability to grow our own food, in particular, will be hard hit without urgent action. (Photo of me with Lib Dem colleagues looking appropriately serious – we were the largest representation from any of the political parties to attend the Briefing)
✅ Met with about a dozen Wiltshire farmers, very concerned over floods, drought, and the future of their farms once the family farm tax kicks in. Just when we need our farmers to be doing their bit for nature restoration and food production, they are being hit hard by the loss of incentive schemes from the government, while also being squeezed by supermarket. Do please support your local farmers by buying from farm shops if you can!
✅ Popped by to see the volunteers at Tesco in Cirencester collecting for the local food bank – thanks to the volunteers, and all the generous souls who donated
✅ Dropped in at the Cirencester Advent event – a wonderfully tempting market and a hive of activity in the parish church. All fabulously festive
✅ Spoke to various groups represented by GRCC, Gloucestershire’s community volunteers organisation, who do such fabulous work across our county.
✅ Sadly didn’t get the chance to give my speech on the budget – waited in the Chamber for 5 hours, but the debate ran out of time before I was called. This is one of the more frustrating aspects of the Westminster system.
✅ Attended an event with the Sustainable Energy Association, a group of professionals in the sustainable/low carbon sector, to discuss with them the challenges facing their sector – first and foremost the lack long-term certainty from government
✅ Spoke with councillors and others at Cirencester Hospital about the impacts of the “temporary” closure of the day surgical unit. Please sign our petition – link below.
✅ Attended an event with the Sustainable Energy Association, a group of professionals in the sustainable/low carbon sector, to discuss with them the challenges facing their sector – first and foremost the lack long-term certainty from government
✅ Enjoyed a gathering of the Nature Recovery All-Party Parliamentary Group, plus special guests, to discuss the importance of Local Nature Recovery Partnerships. Great to see Nicola Hillary from the Gloucestershire partnership there!
✅ Participated in a grilling of academics and professionals about the Seventh Carbon Budget and whether it is deliverable, as part of my work with the Environmental Audit Committee.
✅ Attended an Oceana reception – great to see so many of the great and the good from the world of ocean conservation, including many faces from my previous career as an ocean/environmental campaigner.
✅ Decorated our office Christmas tree with Kathy, one of our most trusted and hardworking volunteers!
And a reminder that you can check out sources of funding for local projects on our Stronger South Cotswolds website!
MP’s Casework Update:
A few of the things we’ve done this week… (we will never reveal confidential details in these updates without permission – all cases are handled in strictest confidence)
Given recent weather, we’re addressing concerns about the lack of clear, accessible information and contact options for residents during flood emergencies - particularly out of hours – raised by one of our hardworking flood wardens. We will be supporting the Cirencester Volunteer Flood Wardens and their concise informational guide.
Helped someone retiring from the Royal Logistics Corps to set himself up with a taxi licence so he can make a living when he leaves the Army employment.
Helped constituents with a delayed Child Benefit claim, needing coordination with HMRC.
If you have a case you need to bring to our attention, please email me at roz.savage.mp@parliament.uk.
Links to a few recent articles by Roz:
Tough on Farage, tough on the causes of Farage in Lib Dem Voice
The Regeneration Gap in Liberator
Save Our Hospital
Sign our petition to call on NHS Gloucestershire and the Government to guarantee the long-term future of Cirencester Hospital, and to restore and protect its services so that it can continue to deliver high-quality, local care. Our Cotswolds hospitals must be strengthened, not slowly dismantled. They are essential to delivering accessible, patient-centred healthcare for Cirencester and our Cotswolds towns and villages
Show your support for the campaign by signing our petition today…
Quote of the Week
"If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.”
-- Aldo Leopold
Have a great week!!
Roz Savage MP
