Osborne's Autumn Statement revealed £158billion extra debt

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement showed the Tory-led Government’s plan has backfired and debt is set to soar by an extra £158billion by 2015 as their policies fail to deliver growth.

Euro MP Peter Skinner has campaigned for fairer fares and welcomed the Tory U-turn on rail fare increases but says George Osborne’s own predictions of stagnation, climbing unemployment and increased debt shows the failure of Government economic policy.

Peter Skinner MEP

“Osborne and Cameron’s Plan A has backfired. They said their cuts were necessary to cut the debt and deliver growth but now we hear debt is set to soar by an extra £158billion. Read the rest of this article »

The Anglian Monarch has been removed from service

“UK ships will now have to rely on the French to come to the rescue if they fall into trouble in the waters of the Channel,” says Peter Skinner MEP.

“This is further proof that the Government’s cuts are going too far and it’s a sorry state of affairs.”

The Coastguard coordinates maritime search and rescue in UK coastal waters – helping people in distress at sea or responding to emergencies on the coast or shoreline such as cliff and mud rescues.

But Government cuts are beginning to bite. On 30th September the British tug, Anglian Monarch, was controversially removed from the Dover Straits – one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world – along with three other UK tugs. Read the rest of this article »

I’ve just written an article for Oxfordshire Young Labour which you can see below:

You can download the full newsletter here: November 2011 Newsletter

The Cost of the Cuts

A year ago David Cameron and George Osborne presented the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) – their £80billion austerity programme which, they promised, would get Government finances back on track while delivering growth and jobs.

There is merit to the argument that our national debt must be reduced to provide a solid foundation for the economy. We must, however, place that argument in context: the goal must be a strong, stable and growing economy and we should only aggressively pursue debt reduction if it delivers jobs and growth. Read the rest of this article »

National Express runs an extensive coach network

The Conservative-led Government has today scrapped the concessionary coach travel scheme which was designed to help elderly and disabled people in the South East.

The scheme gave a 50% discount and it is estimated that last year more than three million journeys were made on National Express coaches alone. That discount from the Government has now been totally cut.

Campaign groups Disability Alliance, Age UK and Campaign for Better Transport believe that the cut to the concessionary fare scheme will significantly disadvantage disabled people and older people. Read the rest of this article »