00:00Welcome to the Kent Politics Show on KameTV. I'm Megan Shaw and this week funding for
00:26the Lower Thames Crossing, a boost to apprenticeships and a higher minimum wage. But what will the
00:32budget cost you? Chancellor Rachel Reeves faced accusations of breaking her election promises
00:38by raising taxes. So tonight we'll unpack whether Kent residents got a good deal. But first,
00:44here's some of the reactions across Kent. It was a very progressive budget addressing
00:51costal living crisis for families and bringing some stability into the economy and in fact
00:59some growth in the economy as well which we haven't seen for a long time. Well I thought
01:04Halloween had been and gone but I think yesterday was a complete horror show. I think the Chancellor
01:09is hopelessly out of her depth. I think this is typical Labour politics. They think that
01:15by splashing loads of taxpayers' cash on public spending, they will somehow stimulate growth.
01:23What we're doing is rebalancing businesses and taxation around businesses. So small and
01:27medium sized businesses like those cafes will get a benefit from this budget. Those bigger
01:33businesses, Amazon and others, which are undercutting them, they will be paying for that. So I would
01:38say to those businesses, look, I hear the situation at the moment is difficult. You know, the economy,
01:46we are, we've not had a single quarter of decline. It's been growth in every quarter. So compared to
01:522023 when we had a recession, we're not talking about that today. So I think businesses can be
01:57reasonably confident that the growth over the next several years will be sustained. I think this is
02:02really going to help people in Gratia. So for instance, removing the two-child benefit cap is
02:10going to mean that 3,000 children in Gratia are now going to be lifted out of poverty. I mean,
02:17that is just in one fast swoop, one signature can do that. I mean, that's incredible. And this is why
02:24I came into politics to do things like this. Here with me is Theresa Murray, deputy leader of Medway
02:31Council for Labour and Reforms, Brian Collins, deputy leader of KCC. So we just, we saw some
02:38clips there from some of the MPs and of course, Lyndon, Kem, Karen. So what was your initial
02:43reactions to Wednesday's budget? Obviously a large one. It's the third largest tax raising budget
02:48since 2010. So what were your initial reactions? I was pleased with the budget, Megan. I think that
02:54investing in public services, making life a bit easier for businesses and expecting everyone to
03:01play their part is a good thing to do. It was a proudly Labour budget. Lyndon, Kem, Karen is right
03:06about that. I didn't know that she was an economist. But all the same, the measures that are put in there
03:14will create growth. We've seen that before under Labour governments and we'll see it again. I understand
03:20that people are having a tough time.
Comments