Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood has slammed George Osborne for introducing a ‘reverse Robin Hood’ budget that robs from the most vulnerable in society while letting the bankers off the hook.
The AM for the South Wales Central region told a rally outside the Senedd that Osborne’s proposals were not only ethically flawed but economically flawed too.
She said: “George Osborne had the cheek to call today’s emergency budget tough, but fair. Is it fair that he has increased the most regressive of all taxes, VAT, to 20%?
“This will hurt the most vulnerable in society; from the elderly struggling to afford to heat their homes as well as eat, to the single parents wondering how they are going to make ends meet on benefits that barely cover their expenditure as it is. There is very little in this budget for the most vulnerable in our society.
“The chancellor’s welfare cuts total £11 billion. Child benefits, housing benefit, family tax credits have all come under fire while bankers’ bonuses have been left untouched. It is no surprise that the financial markets were reported to have reacted favourably to the news of the budget.
“The leniency towards the financial institutions is quite remarkable when you ask yourself ‘How we did we get into this financial mess in the first place?’
“The public sector is going to take a hammering over the next few years too. Government departments, with the exception of health and international development, are to be cut by 25% over the coming four years. We will have to wait until October for the full details of this policy but you can rest assured, the consequences for the public sector will be catastrophic.
“It will surely mean thousands of job losses and will bite particularly hard in Wales where a higher proportion of workers are employed within the public sector. Plaid believes that as many as 60,000 jobs will be lost to Wales which will be an absolute disaster for our economy.”
Ms Wood added: “What of the Liberal Democrats and their pre-election plans to make Britain fairer? Their mouths have been stuffed with gold by the Tory party, which makes them far worse in my books than their coalition partners.
“At least with the Tories you know where you are. The Lib Dems have sold out the millions of people that voted for them at the General Election on a ticket of equality. Shame on them!
“The Con/Dem Government have now set out their stall and given us a taste of what we can expect over the course of their parliament. It is up to us now to make sure their plans to rob the poor and give to the rich do not go through with ease.”
