Reading West MP Martin Salter today welcomed Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report as the right recipe to secure economic recovery and get public finances back on track.

Mr Salter said:-

“The banking collapse which began in America and triggered a global economic crisis has cost the British economy dearly, particularly given our reliance on the City of London as a global financial centre. However, Alistair Darling has put in place a plan to halve the public sector deficit in four years whilst protecting front line services such as schools, hospitals, and the police over the next three years.”

Mr Salter supported the Chancellor’s package with taxes on bankers’ bonuses and a freeze on the inheritance tax threshold. He contrasted Labour’s approach with the Tories, who are pledged to cut the deficit faster and risk the progress of the economic recovery whilst at the same time offering tax cuts for the wealthiest few.

He added:-

“The Tories under David Cameron and George Osborne have shown time and time again how they cannot be trusted with the economy. They were wrong to call for the complete deregulation of all mortgages, they were wrong about Northern Rock, they voted against the measures to stimulate the economy and protect building society savings and they proposed the abolition of the Financial Services Authority.

“They were wrong then and they are wrong now. In the Commons today George Osborne called for faster action to cut the budget deficit. But this would mean either cutting half the current schools budget or raising VAT from 17.5 to 23 percent. Osborne simply will not say where his axe will fall and cannot match Labour’s pledge to protect frontline services such as schools, hospitals, and the police. Instead he is more concerned with being soft on bankers and handing out inheritance tax cuts to millionaires and the three thousand wealthiest estates in the country.”