Views
This budget fails the Highlands - for the Strathspey & Badenoch Herald
LAST week's budget was a sobering event for anyone who doubted the severity of the economic crisis.
Alistair Darling presented his own estimates for the size of the expected downturn – which he expects to be the most severe economic recession since the Second World War.
Even these bleak forecasts were promptly condemned as over-optimistic by many independent economic commentators.
Only by making some fairly unlikely assumptions about how quickly the economy will grow next year has Mr Brown's government been able to say that it can balance the books in future.
The next few months will tell whether the figures are right or wrong. And we will also see how hard the strath is being hit by the national and global economic forces.
Having talked to a lot of local businesses, it seems to me that the local picture is very mixed.
Some sectors, particularly construction, have been hit hard. Others, such as tourism, think they may actually do well this year.
But what we needed from the government were some of the measures that would have made a specific difference here in the Highlands.
On this measure, the chancellor totally failed to deliver the help that we need for local people and businesses who are struggling in the face of the recession.
With incomes here lower than the national average, we needed to see tax cuts for people on low and middle incomes.
Liberal Democrat proposals would put £700 back into the pockets of the vast majority of Highland families. That would make a real difference to people struggling to make ends meet.
There was a lot more that could be done to raise money from the wealthiest and clamp down on tax avoidance - all that money should be used to cut taxes for the majority.
Some very modest measure to ask the very richest to pay a bit more were included in the budget, but the opportunity to use that to cut the taxes on the poorest was missed.
Mr Darling has failed to take on board the proposals to cut the Highland Council's housing debt payments.
The idea that the council and Highland MPs put to the Treasury was for the government to forego the council's £15 million annual debt repayments in return for a guarantee that money would be spent on job-creating housing projects.
That is bitterly disappointing and will prevent hundreds of jobs being created locally. I hope that the Scottish government will at least pass on a share of the new funding for housing to the Highlands.
We also needed to see a fuel duty discount scheme for the Highlands. A car is a necessity here and a lower rate of duty here would have reflected that.
Instead we will see rises in fuel duty across the board without any relief in remote and rural areas.
In the last three months, fuel prices in Scotland have risen by 8.6 pence on average – more in many places in the Highlands.
By piling on the pain, without any relief for rural areas, the government shows a total failure to understand how the Highland economy works. This will hit farmers and businesses too.
The budget will do very little to create jobs. He should have reversed the VAT cut and put the £8 billion still available into housing and green jobs.
It is not clear whether the green measures announced will actually help the renewable energy industry in the Highlands.
We have huge potential for home grown Highland businesses, particularly in marine energy generation. But they need a kickstart from the government.
The chancellor had an opportunity to give practical help to people in the Highlands struggling in the face of recession - it is deeply disappointing that he failed to take it.
Posted on: 29/04/2009
