For some people things have been hard recently, as inflation rises around the world, particularly as a result of the war in Ukraine. But you wonder if the Liberal Democrats realise this if you’d been watching their conference last week. They seem determined to come out with a raft of policies if they won the next General Election that are designed to make people worse off.
They plan to abolish Marriage Tax Allowance – which allows couples to transfer part of their personal allowance if one person earns less than £12,570 per year. They want to slap an extra tax on your flight to make a family holiday abroad more difficult. They want to add a 1p tax to the sale of clothes – hardly a measure designed only to target the rich in society.
In Wokingham Borough, we’ve seen the effect of the Liberal Democrats in power, supported by Labour. Car parking charges have doubled, despite local opposition and concerns about the impact on business in our towns. At last week’s Full Council meeting, an Executive Member claimed that Wokingham town centre is “thriving”. This will be galling reading for business owners like Phil Edgecombe, whose letter to the Leader of the Council reported in last week’s paper made clear “The current policies regarding parking and enforcement of the parking rules are hostile to residents and visitors to the town, and local businesses are suffering”.
Phil called for a reduction in parking charges. Those of us who are Conservative councillors agree. We opposed the Lib Dems’ hike in charges, and if elected in May we would have reversed the increase. We set out a plan to fund this that would have reduced back office spending. We urge the Lib Dems to think about hard-pressed families and businesses, and cut parking charges.
