Joe Benton MP welcomes Budget boost for local services

Joe Benton MP welcomes Budget boost for local services

Bootle families to gain from family tax cut

Joe Benton MP has welcomed Labour's Budget boost for public services, saying that in its decisions, “Labour put schools and hospitals first”.

Speaking from the House of Commons after hearing Gordon Brown deliver the Budget, Joe Benton said:

“Local schools will see bigger direct payments coming this year. Head Teachers of every primary school will receive not £10,000 as planned but £13,000 with the larger primary schools receiving not £50,000 but £63,000. And the Head Teacher of each secondary school will receive for the smaller schools not £57,000 but £68,000 and the larger schools a payment of not £92,000 but £115,000.

“And there's a direct cash boost for local acute hospital trusts as well as a fund to recruit key health service staff.

“Every parent worries about their children and wants them growing up safe from the scourge of drugs. That's why we are investing an extra £300 million over 3 years to fight crime and drugs, with money going direct to local crime and safety partnerships.

“But investing in Britain's future requires a balanced approach – with stability the foundation, more investment not less and targeted tax cuts we can afford.

“Labour's package for hard working families includes extending the lowest 10p rate of tax to give an affordable income tax cut to many of the 11,152 families throughout Bootle and a £5 a week increase in the Working Families Tax Credit for local families. This will reinforce our plans to make work pay and help reduce unemployment, which has already fallen by 32% since 1997.

“And there's the £10 per week Children's Tax Credit – Labour's family tax cut. For families in the year of a child's birth it will rise, as a baby credit, to £20 a week – up to £1,040 a year from April 2002.

“On average families with children will be £240 a year better off as a result of all the measures taking effect this year. Today's budget shows that Labour has made its choice – stability first to allow us to help hard working families and put schools and hospitals first.

“It is a choice our opponents can't match. The Tories are committed to making £16 billion of cuts in vital public services or £24 million here in Bootle, hitting local schools and hospitals. People remember the last Tory economic disaster when unemployment hit 3 million and interest rates rose to £15% for a full year. Nobody wants a return to those days.

“Today's Budget shows Labour is investing for the long term to build a Britain of opportunity and prosperity for all”.