Osborne urged to 'end austerity'

David Laws urged the Chancellor to move towards the coalition's goal of raising the income tax threshold to 10,000 pounds
12 April 2012

A senior Liberal Democrat has urged Chancellor George Osborne to use next month's Budget to cut personal taxes, saying it would make a "big difference" to the economy.

David Laws, the former chief secretary to the treasury, said Mr Osborne should start "ending austerity" for millions of households by moving towards the coalition's goal of raising the income tax threshold to £10,000.

His call came as Labour stepped up its demands for "significant" tax cuts in the Budget in order to revive the the flagging economy.

Mr Laws, who was forced to quit the Cabinet over irregularities in his MP's expenses, said that while austerity would have to continue in the public finances, Mr Osborne could start to ease the pressure on household budgets.

"That gives you the opportunity of ending austerity in household budgets and allowing the household budgets of most people to start expanding again from later on this year and into next," he told BBC Two's Newsnight. "That would make a big difference to the economy and obviously to millions of people who have been through one of the toughest periods in terms of household budgets in living memory."

Meanwhile, shadow treasury chief secretary Rachel Reeves is warning that the Government will not succeed in tackling the deficit unless it can inject growth back into the economy.

After shadow chancellor Ed Balls called at the weekend for "significant" tax cuts in next month's Budget, she will argue that stimulating the economy is an essential component of a deficit reduction strategy.

In her first major policy speech on the economy, Ms Reeves, who is seen as a rising star of Labour's front bench team, will also launch an attack on Mr Osborne's tax and spending rules saying they do not guarantee "long-term sustainability".

Addressing the IPPR centre-left think tank, Ms Reeves will say that a temporary cut in VAT would be the "fairest and quickest option" for stimulating growth. "This is a temporary and targeted stimulus to restore confidence, strengthen investment and raise employment," she will say, according to advance extracts of her speech. "It is not an exception or postponement of our plan to reduce the deficit - it's an essential and integral part of it.

"The point is not just that you need jobs and growth as well as a credible deficit reduction plan. The point is that a plan to reduce the deficit without a strategy for jobs and growth is not a credible plan at all."

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