Spring budget not the “right plan” for farmers and working families: Lockhart
Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart has challenged the Chancellor’s statement that the spring budget is the “right plan”.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the MP told Rachel Reeves that her budget did very little to support working families across the United Kingdom.
“The Chancellor is convinced this is the “right plan”, but right for who?” questioned Ms Lockhart.
“It certainly isn’t going to help farmers who are being taxed to the brink, battling rising costs while working to put food on our tables.
The MP added: “WASPI women are still waiting for long-overdue justice, after years of broken promises and delayed action; while small businesses and hospitality firms are barely clinging on, crushed under soaring energy bills, staffing pressures and relentless red tape. Our hard-working childminders are now facing the loss of vital tax allowances - the very people who support working parents and hold up our local economies.
“It’s nothing short of disgraceful and comes at a time when oil and gas prices are rising amid escalating conflict in the Middle East. Families across the United Kingdom are worrying about how they will heat their homes and fuel their cars.”
“Many people looked to this Budget for reassurance. For relief. For hope. Instead, they got waffle and warm words with absolutely no substance,” she added.
Ms Lockhart added: “We see soaring public spending, with more money for housing and supporting asylum seekers, and more on costly Net Zero commitments. Nothing but excessive monetary waste!
“But when it comes to hard-working British families, they are told to tighten their belts.”
The MP stood in Parliament and asked the question millions of people are asking around their own kitchen tables, “When will this Government put British families first?”
“Budgets are not just balance sheets. They are moral documents. They reveal priorities.”
The DUP Agriculture spokesperson added: “The Chancellor’s latest budget sends a clear message, and it is not one that working families, farmers, pensioners, or small business owners will welcome.
“It is time for a plan that rewards work, backs our farmers, delivers justice, supports small businesses, and puts British families first. Anything less is simply not the ‘right plan’.
Farmers drove their tractors into central London again this week, continuing to deliver a clear message to the Government that the pending inheritance tax reforms are hurting farmers and threatening the backbone of our rural communities.