A budget to destroy growth

 Today we had a budget which kicked pensioners in the teeth and business somewhere even less pleasant.

One or two of the measures, such as the increase in the minimum wage and the increase in NHS spending, may well be popular. Taken out of context they may even be beneficial.

The problem with this budget is a catastrophic lack of balance.

And what it proves about the present leadership of the Labour party is that you cannot believe a word they say.

Here are a few of more than 50 times Labour said during the election they had no plans to raise taxes They’ve just broken that promise in their Budget of Broken Promises.

If the increase in the minimum wage had been implemented on its' own as a standalone policy most businesses could probably have afforded it and it might well have done more good by rewarding those who are working hard than harm by pricing jobs out of existence.

Similarly the big increase in worker's rights could probably have been afforded on it's own.

But here's the problem - how can anyone in their right mind imagine that businesses can, at the same time, during a period of high energy costs, pay 

• billions of pounds of wage increases, 
• billions of pounds to fund new workers' entitlements, 
• and also comply with a whole host of net zero regulations and costs to satisfy Ed Miliband, 
• and now pay £25 billion in increased employers' National Insurance contributions,

without cutting something? 

They cannot find all those billions of pounds down the back of a sofa! They will have to cut investment or jobs. Independent experts are suggesting the NICs increase alone will cost at least 50,000 jobs.

Any suggestion that a party is serious about growth if it which introduces a budget like this one, piling forty billion of extra taxes on top of a tax burden which was already high and will now be the highest in history, and then adding billions of borrowing on top of that, is a sick joke.