John Baron MP welcomes measures to boost growth in Autumn Statement

MP also welcomes measures to help cost of living

The Chancellor today delivered his Autumn Statement. The measures included the personal allowance rising further, Labour’s planned fuel duty rise being cancelled and further help for small businesses.

John said:

“I welcome many of the measures in the Autumn Statement. The cancellation of Labour’s planned Fuel Duty rise will help many households. The tenfold increase in the Annual Investment Allowance will be welcomed by many small businesses. The lifting of more people out of tax altogether and increasing the State Pension is the right thing to do.”

“We should never forget that Labour in Government more than doubled the National Debt. By the time they left office in 2010, the Government was borrowing £1 for every £4 spent. It was unsustainable, as many Eurozone countries are now finding out. Given the financial mess we inherited, the Chancellor has done well.”

“These measures will encourage economic growth – the only sustainable solution to our debt problem.”

Ends

Word Count: 160

Date: 5^th December 2012

Notes to Editors

• Personal Allowance increase to £9,440. This change will benefit 3.5 million people in the South East, lifting 30,000 people in the South East out of income tax altogether.

• State pension. 1.7 million pensioners in the South East will benefit from the £2.70 per week rise in the basic state pension.

• Fuel duty. Cancelling the Fuel Duty rise planned for January 2013 will help the owners of the 5.6 million vehicles in the South East, saving a typical driver £40 per year. Fuel prices will stay 10p lower than under Labour’s plans.

• Capital investment in roads. More than £270 million will be invested in roads, including linking the A5 to the M1 at Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire, reducing congestion at J30 on the M25 and introducing a managed motorway scheme between J2 and J4 of the M3.

• Support for small businesses. The South East’s 767,000 small businesses will benefit from the Small Business Rate Relief being extended for another year from April 2013. Businesses in the South East will also benefit from increasing the Annual Investment Allowance limit from £25,000 to £250,000 for two years, as well as £25 million per year more for UK Trade and Investment’s export support to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises.

• £120 million invested in flood defences nationally. We will invest an additional £120 million in flood defences. This is in addition to £2.1 billion committed in 2010 which has seen construction started on flood defences that will improve protection for than 16,000 households in London and the South East.

• Broadband investment. Brighton and Hove, Oxford and Portsmouth will receive a share of £50 million Government funding to deliver ultra-fast fixed broadband access and large areas of public wireless connectivity, subject to State Aid approval.

• Science investment. The Government has announced £600 million of additional capital funding for science and technology funding. As announced in October 2012, the Government will invest in a £32 million partnership at the University of Oxford for a new centre to find potential new areas for drug research, a £138 million partnership at the University of Oxford to establish a new world-leading centre for targeted cancer research, and a more than £35 million partnership between the University of Surrey and communications industry leaders to build a new international research centre to support the development of 5^th Generation cellular communications.