22 March 2000 "Chancellor’s panic spending on schools is too little too late for local pupils" - Davey Local MP, Edward Davey, commenting on the Budget yesterday said: "These panic measures are quite clearly an admission that the £19b promised for education in the current spending round was mostly ‘funny money’ "Today’s announcement is quite frankly too little too late. Local schools, colleges and universities were promised that under a Labour government the chronic underfunding of the previous 18 years would be reversed but it hasn’t been. "It is now clear that the Government has abandoned its "education, education, education" priority. This year just £1 billion extra will go to schools compared with a £2.6 billion cut in basic tax. Clearly tax cuts are more important than education to this Government. "The budget will do nothing to provide a quality nursery education for all three year olds; little to reduce class sizes in the Borough’s secondary schools; little to address the £20bn backlog of school repairs, such as the problems encountered at Maple Infants; nothing to encourage more people to train as teachers; nothing to abolish tuition fees for FE and HE students at Kingston College and University; and nothing to address the massive training needs of small business. "The one consolation is that William Hague’s Tory Party would have made matters even worse. By cutting the current ‘reckless’ public expenditure and offering more tax cuts the Tories would have condemned our schools literally to the poor house." ENDS EDUCATION SPENDING AS A PROPORTION OF NATIONAL INCOME THE PROMISES: (1) The Government pledged in its manifesto: "Education will be our number one priority, and we will increase the share of national income spent on education as we decrease it on the bills of economic and social failure." There are two possible ways to measure this. (a) From the last year of Tory Government. In 1996/7, the last year the Conservatives were in power, 4.7% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product - the standard measure of national income) was spent on education. (In 1997/8, the first year under Labour, this fell to 4.6%, and in 1998/9 to just 4.5%. These were the two years when Labour followed Tory spending plans.) (b) From the average of the last Parliament. During the 1992-7 Parliament 4.9% of GDP was spent on education. (2) Additionally in the Comprehensive Spending Review Labour set a target of 5% of GDP on education. THE REALITY: Following the Budget they are still on course to miss both these targets, however they are measured. Education spending will be 4.8% of GDP this year and next. If we have a General Election in 2001 (the general assumption) the %age of GDP spent on education over the course of this Parliament will have been just 4.6%. |
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22 March 2000 Davey backs police funding increases but Commons figures show lost officers are unlikely to be replaced Edward Davey MP, responding to the announced increase in police spending in the Budget statement yesterday, said: "Additional funding for the police in England and Wales is not just welcome, it is vital to keep the police up to strength. "However, it is still extremely unlikely that the police will be able to replace the officers that have been lost since Labour came to power and invest in much needed new technology. "Unfortunately, figures just released in response to a parliamentary question show that the Home Office is expecting police numbers to continue falling this year and next, so that by March 2001 there will be 2,600 fewer officers than in 1997." He added: "The effects of these cuts can be seen throughout the Borough with an upturn in graffiti and mindless vandalism, along with growing violence and disorder in our town centres. Yet, there are already concerns that the local officers, cut by both the Tory and Labour Governments, won’t be replaced. For the victims of crime in Kingston and Surbiton, the Government’s announcement will never repair the damage these cuts have already done." Ends.
22 March 2000 "Brown Chancellor Fails To Deliver Green Budget" - Edward Davey MP Local MP, Edward Davey, commenting on yesterday’s Budget said: "Gordon Brown clearly cares more about big business than he does about cold pensioners or protecting the environment. "The Brown Budget scores only a paltry two out of ten against the Liberal Democrats’ Green Budget proposals. "Company cars will continue to burn cheap fuel, waste will continue to be sent to landfill sites, green fields will continue to be built on, and pensioners will still die in their cold homes." On the Government’s decision to introduce 44-tonne lorries to UK roads, he said: "This flies in the face of a commitment to shift more freight by rail. Local roads will become even more congested and residents living next to main roads, such as the A3, will be blighted by the increased noise and pollution these vehicles make. The Government must think again." Commenting on the decision not to reduce VAT on house renovations and to only commit to consulting on stamp duty relief on brownfield sites, Edward said: "It is far better to improve the houses that already exist before building thousands more. The Chancellor has missed a golden opportunity." He went on to add: "The increased funding for pensioners is welcome, but is more than offset by the hikes in council tax, forced by the ‘pocket money’ local government settlement. What the Chancellor gives with one hand, he is taking away with the other." ENDS NOTE: Attached is a checklist of the Government’s Budget against the Liberal Democrat Green Budget proposals. LIBERAL DEMOCRAT DETR BUDGET CHECKLIST 1. INTRODUCE A PROGRAMME TO END FUEL POVERTY WITHIN 15 YEARS AND REDUCE VAT ON ENERGY SAVING MATERIALS TO 5% ½ 2. RAISE THE LEVELS OF WASTE RECYCLED/REUSED BY GRADUALLY INCREASING THE LANDFILL LEVY ½ 3. EQUALISE, ON A REVENUE NEUTRAL BASIS, VAT ON NEW HOUSE BUILD AND RENOVATION 0 4. CREATE 10,000 EXTRA AFFORDABLE HOMES TO RENT EACH YEAR PAID FOR BY ENDING THE 50% COUNCIL TAX DISCOUNT ON SECOND HOMES 0 5. INTRODUCE A GREENFIELD DEVELOPMENT LEVY TO FUND THE RENOVATION OF DAMAGED WILDLIFE SITES AND THE CLEAN UP OF BROWNFIELD LAND 0 6. REPLACE THE GOVERNMENT’S FLAWED PROPOSALS FOR A CLIMATE CHANGE LEVY (CCL) WITH A PHASED CARBON TAX 0 7. SET AN OBLIGATION OF 20% OF UK ENERGY TO BE GENERATED FROM INDIGENOUS RENEWABLE SOURCES BY 2010 0 8. BOOST PUBLIC TRANSPORT BY USING PUBLIC BONDS AND REVENUE FROM CONGESTION CHARGING AND A WORK-PLACE PARKING LEVY ½ 9. EXTEND FUEL DUTY REBATE TO COMMUNITY TRANSPORT FUNDED BY REFORMING COMPANY CAR TAXATION 0 10. ABOLISH ROAD TAX FOR THE MOST EFFICIENT CARS WITH GRADED INCREASES FOR THE MOST INEFFICIENT. ½ TOTAL = 2/10 |
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