Robinson welcomes Lib Dem Economic Recovery Plan

6.31.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 20th Oct 2008

Vince Cable MP speaking out in Parliament

Chelmsford Lib Dem candidate Stephen Robinson has welcomed the Lib Dem package of measures to help people in the current downturn. These include: significant tax cuts for low and middle earners; help for housing and people in debt; cutting energy bills, and an end to 'short-termism' in the city.

Said Mr Robinson, "Gordon Brown's response to the economic crisis has been too little, too late. We are all now facing the consequences of his years of inaction. The housing bubble has burst. Unemployment is rising fast. Tens of thousands of families are losing their homes."

Vince Cable MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, added, "For years I warned Gordon Brown of the oncoming economic problems. Unsustainable levels of personal debt, mostly secured against fake 'wealth' from vastly inflated property prices. An economy based so heavily on debt was never going to be in a fit state to deal with global shocks like the credit crunch.

"Gordon Brown used to boast we were better prepared than our competitors for a downturn. Yet the OECD's respected economic forecasters now predict we will fare worst among the world's seven leading economies (G7) in the current crisis.

"What Britain needs now, and urgently, is practical action to help people who are struggling. Gordon Brown and Labour can't offer that. They got us into this mess. Now they are dithering on key decisions and muddling along on half measures.

"David Cameron and the Conservatives won't offer it. At a time when those on the breadline are struggling more than for a generation, their top priority is tax cuts for millionaires.

"We need a serious plan to get Britain's economy up and running again. That is why Nick Clegg and I have put together the Liberal Democrat Fairer Future Economic Recovery Plan.

Our plan would:

• Put more money in people's pockets - cut the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 16%, funded by taxes on polluters;

• Stop unnecessary home repossessions, provide more affordable housing and extra help for people in debt or who lose their jobs;

• Make energy companies reinvest their windfall profits in cutting bills, and

• Bring to an end the free-wheeling, 'anything goes' short-termism of the City. We cannot continue with a culture where bankers pocket big bonuses for taking reckless risks, but when things go wrong government and taxpayers have to step in to pick up the pieces.

"There is only one party in Britain today with a serious and credible plan to get Britain's economy back on its feet - and to provide real help to those struggling in the meantime. That is the Liberal Democrats."

Related Link:

Read the plan here (PDF, seven pages).