Cost of Living Crisis

For far too long, local people have taken the brunt of this Conservative cost of living crisis.  Years of Conservative failure and incompetence have left residents across Solihull West and Shirley facing a worsening cost of living crisis.

In very tough times, local people have shown remarkable decency and strength. Everywhere across our borough, people from all backgrounds and all walks of life are working hard, raising families, helping others and playing by the rules – but finding it harder and harder to make ends meet.

Soaring energy bills, food prices and housing costs are overwhelming families and pensioners. We need a Government with a plan to tackle this cost-of-living crisis, but instead the Conservatives have made it so much worse because they just don’t care.

Every child deserves the best possible start in life. Everyone should receive the care they need when they are ill or frail, and a helping hand when they fall on tough times. Ade and the Liberal Democrats believe that an active state is essential to empower people and provide the support they need.

That means a government which helps struggling families and pensioners when they face a cost-of-living crisis, rather than one which plunges them into poverty.

The Conservatives have badly mismanaged the economy and recklessly damaged the public finances, failing to deliver strong economic growth after the Covid pandemic and adding billions to the cost of servicing our debt through their shambolic mini-budget. They have taken people for granted, failing to deliver the investment needed to bring prosperity to all nations and regions of the UK. They responded too slowly to the cost-of-living crisis and their promises to “level up” have proved hollow.

Liberal Democrats will build a strong, fair economy that benefits everyone in the UK, through wise investment, fair taxes and responsible management of the public finances. In particular, we will:

• Invest in infrastructure, innovation and skills to create good jobs and prosperity in every region and nation of the UK, while tackling the climate emergency.
• Help people with the cost of living and their energy bills by implementing a proper, one-off windfall tax on the super-profits of oil and gas producers and traders.
• Make taxes fair, ensuring that tax burdens don’t fall disproportionately on low earners, reversing the Conservatives’ tax cuts for big banks, and abolishing the separate Capital Gains tax-free allowance, to tax income from wealth more similarly to income from work.
• Give taxpayers real value for money, by clamping down on tax avoidance and evasion, narrowing the tax gap, and giving HMRC more resources to properly tackle tax fraud, which has cost the taxpayer billions under the Conservatives.
• Safeguard the UK’s economic prosperity while making the investments our country needs. We will make sure that day-to-day spending does not exceed the amount of money raised in taxes over the medium term, with additional flexibility during periods of economic crisis.
• Uphold fiscal responsibility by ensuring that all fiscal events are accompanied by forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.