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The leader of the Labour party and the shadow chancellor have called on the government to "take some steps to deal with faltering growth in our economy".
Ahead of the Budget on March 23, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls called a press conference today to present alternative plans on jobs and growth.
"Since George Osborne abandoned Labour's plan to halve the deficit over four years in favour of a reckless experiment to cut too deep and too fast, the economy has taken a turn for the worse," said Balls.
"Unemployment is now rising again and the recovery ground to a halt at the end of last year. We need a plan that puts jobs and growth first because getting more people into work and the economy growing strongly again is the best way to get the deficit down.
"That's why we are calling on the Conservative-led government to repeat last year's bank bonus tax this year to boost jobs and growth.
"Our plans would create over 110,000 jobs, build thousands of much needed homes and support investment in the regions."
The 'bank tax' would also pay for £1.2bn to build 25,000 new homes, a £600m fund for youth jobs and an additional £200m for the regional growth fund.
Miliband said:
"As a matter of simple fairness, at a time when everyone else is facing tax rises, it is completely wrong for this Tory-led government to choose to cut taxes for the banks.
"The banks, who helped create the financial crisis, must now help return our economy to growth."
Balls also called on the chancellor to reverse the VAT rise on petrol.
"I think he should act immediately on VAT. This was an own goal and he didn't have to do it," the shadow chancellor told Sky News ahead of the press conference.
"On Wednesday we will be urging Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs to join with us in voting in parliament to urge the chancellor to cut VAT on fuel now and give immediate relief to hauliers and motorists across the country."
Article Comments
Is that it? That's THE PLAN! So, more politicking from Labour on one issue rather than tackling the whole sorry mess. Where's their plan to tackle the 120m going out every day in deficit interest? Any news of their cuts in public spending yet? Or is it all the usual lala land economics?
John
14th Mar 2011 at 2:02 pm
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