Ashford Liberal Democrats

"Tired Budget from a Chancellor who has run out of steam" - Campbell

Sir Menzies Campbell MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, criticised Gordon Brown's budget as a massive missed opportunity.

He said: 'This is a tired budget from a Chancellor who has run out of steam.'

In six key areas, the budget is a major disappointment:

Council Tax: The £200 rebate offered to pensioners last year has now been shown to be a one-off. It is unclear why pensioners need support in an election year, but not in the year after. This means every pensioner household faces a £200 rise in their bills this year, in addition to any increases made by the local council. The Liberal Democrats would scrap council tax and replace it with a system based on ability to pay.

"Why does he tinker with the tax system when it is so fundamentally unfair and requires radical reform?

"And every time he tinkers, he adds layer upon layer of complexity - an incitement to fraud. The most unfair, regressive tax of all remains the council tax.

Pensions: The Chancellor failed to address the crisis in pensions. The government recently refused to accept the Ombudsman's report regarding compensation and the Chancellor appears to be only the substantial obstacle to adopting a blueprint for pension reform - based on a broad consensus around the Turner report, with a decent state pension and an end to means testing.

"This Budget has also failed to deal with another of the most glaring issues before us today; the crisis in pensions. Last week we learned that the Government would not follow the Ombudsman's recommendations and compensate those who have lost out by believing government information. The Ombudsman said the government had provided information that was 'inaccurate, incomplete, unclear and inconsistent'.

"If an independent report had made a similar judgement about the actions of the Tory government when the Chancellor was in opposition, his wrath would have been wondrous to behold.

"There is a broad consensus of agreement around the recent report by Adair Turner on all sides of the House. There is a blueprint for pension reform that is available and should be implemented. It seems to be only the Treasury that stands in the way.

The environment: The changes in Vehicle Excise Duty will have no meaningfully beneficial impact on the environment. The duty only applies to new cars and is only equivalent to about half a tank of fuel. The Liberal Democrats would levy a carbon tax to replace the Climate Change Levy and would replace air passenger duty with a duty levied on flights.

"Green taxes have fallen as a share of overall taxation under this government and the measures that the Chancellor has announced today are little more than a token gesture.

"Simplicity is needed in environmental taxation.

"We need a proper system of green economic incentives, incentives that encourage people to change the way they live - and ensure that the polluter pays.

"Under this Chancellor, the polluter isn't paying. The bare fact is that CO2 emissions are higher than they were in 1997, and they are continuing to rise.

Personal debt: The Chancellor makes no mention of personal debt, which now stands a £1.2 trillion - equivalent to 100% of the UK's GDP. The Liberal Democrats would put in place a truly independent network of advice centres and take steps to prevent mis-selling from banks of mortgage payment protection insurance.

"There is another issue that we Liberal Democrats have been raising for some time - the potential hazards of this country's rising consumer debt.

"Consumer debt is now approaching £1.2 trillion - which is practically identical to the gross domestic product for the United Kingdom as a whole.

"Consumer debt has driven the Chancellor's boom - but the legacy for many families could be disaster. Nearly a fifth of family incomes is being used to service debts. This means it is back to the level it was when the economy crashed under the Tories in the early 1990s.

"The immediate signs of stress are clear: rising bankruptcies and rising repossessions.

"The other side of the coin of the rise in personal debt and the decline in personal savings is the poor recent record of private business investment. Under current leadership, the CBI has been great deal more supportive of this government than in previous years, but I suspect they will react to this Budget more in sadness than anger, to the way in which mindless regulation and excessive tax complexity are squeezing entrepreneurship out of British business, and this Budget does nothing to change that.

Unfairness in the tax system: The Chancellor has done nothing to address the unfairness that the top 20% of earners pay less of their income in tax than the bottom 20%. The tax system also remains unfair and vastly overcomplicated. The Liberal Democrats do not see the need for the tax burden to rise, but believe the burden should be distributed more fairly.

"The top 20% of earners pay less of their income in tax than the bottom 20%, while the tax system remains unfair and vastly overcomplicated.

Public spending: The Chancellor failed to face up to tough choices in public spending. The government will have to face up to real terms cuts in public spending next year. The Liberal Democrats are committed to making tough choices - such as abolishing the DTI.

"The Chancellor prepared the ground well in the pre-Budget Report. Conceding the error of his growth predictions. Changing the economic cycle. Raising taxes. Acknowledging a slowdown in public spending growth.

"The Chancellor has put the spending review back to next year and gained a breathing space. What many of the backbenchers opposite may not have realised is that with the spending plans pencilled in at the pre-Budget report, the government will be announcing real terms cuts in most government departments next year. And with public spending, despite all the extra investment, it's still not reaching the frontline.

"Treasury targets have led to NHS Trusts cutting waiting lists at all costs - and cutting care in other areas. There is a need for tough choices, for spending priorities. We are committed to them - like cutting back on DTI industrial subsidies, such as those given to the nuclear power industry. The baby bond scheme - money much better spent on early years education now than a bond in the future. The millions of pounds already spent on the unnecessary and unworkable identity card scheme.

"The British people wanted to better public services and were willing to pay for them. What they simply don't understand is how so much has been spent with so little to show for it. With operations cancelled, with wards closed and local hospitals threatened with closure, and even nurses being made redundant.