Caroline Voaden: 'No matter where you look, progress is scant'

Change.

That was the message Labour ran on last July. But nearly a year on it’s hard to see much evidence of the change we were promised. 

It was a message that always seemed rather a poor fit with a leader who exuded caution above everything else — and so it has played out. No matter where you look, progress is scant. 

Fixing social care? Kicked into the long grass. Reforming NHS dentistry? Shockingly little progress. Holding water firms to account? I can’t even go there...

In fact, rather than enacting change, we’re watching a Labour government deliver policies that are weirdly reminiscent of the Conservatives when they were in government.  Take the Spring Statement, for example: listening in the Chamber, if you closed your eyes, you could almost imagine a Conservative Chancellor delivering it. 

I’m sure no one who voted or campaigned for Labour last July could have imagined that eight months on they’d be watching their Chancellor deliver a swathe of benefit cuts which target disabled people. 

And yet, they did. As a result, millions of the most disadvantaged people in society are now scrambling to work out how they’ll get by each month, and I’m deeply concerned about the effects this latest round of cuts will have. 

What’s worse than how completely antithetical this is to traditional Labour values, is that the Chancellor didn’t need to take this route. 

We Liberal Democrats have said for a long time that there are big cooperations out there literally making billions of pounds in profits, and it’s those corporations the Government could have looked to, to pay their faire share. 

Instead they’re pursuing cuts to disabled people and their carers whilst, at the same time, not ruling out giving a massive tax cut to Elon Musk and other billionaire tech barons to try and keep the US sweet. Exactly the kind of action Labour used to condemn... 

But this wasn’t the only missed opportunity in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement. 

Back in autumn, many were rightly horrified by her move to increase employer national insurance contributions and the impact that would have on business.

Not only was it disappointing that she didn’t reverse this move last month, but her decision to keep this jobs tax in place for hospices and other healthcare providers is frankly indefensible.  A few days before the Spring Statement, I once again called for the government to exempt these providers, citing numerous cases including Rowcroft Hospice who face a £225,000 increase in operating costs because of increased national insurance contributions.

When defending this policy, the government often cites their economic inheritance. While that’s a fair point given the Conservatives’ shocking damage to our economy, they are approaching this in the wrong way. 

It comes back to my point about change. Rather than thinking big, they are thinking small. Rather than making real change, they are tinkering around the edges. 

If the government is serious about getting growth back into our economy, then the easiest, best and fastest way of doing that is to establish a better trading relationship with Europe – especially now we are all facing US tariffs.

We want to see the government talk about renegotiating the Conservatives’ botched Brexit deal, getting rid of red tape and the mountains of paperwork strangling every business that trades with the EU. 

The government should get on with renegotiating this right now and develop a bespoke customs union that works for British businesses. 

Unfortunately, though, they appear more focused on rehashing previous failed policies, and it is British businesses that will suffer as a result. 

The government had the chance with the Spring Statement to kickstart growth and boost our high streets, by scrapping their jobs tax and reforming businesses rates. 

Instead, they chose to inflict more pain on our small businesses and high streets, heap most costs onto public services and target disabled people. 

The Spring Statement was a missed opportunity for Labour to fulfil their election message. People voted for change, but so far Labour are just delivering more of the same. 

If you wish to contact me about this or another issue you are facing, please do so at: caroline.voaden.mp@parliament.uk   

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