'˜This isn't a budget Brighton and Hove can celebrate'

Caroline Lucas said the Chancellor failed to give the NHS and social care the funding that is needed, and with Phillip Hammond’s speech failing to mention climate change, the MP said that the Budget ‘utterly fails to address the challenges of our time’.

Ms Lucas said: “This isn’t a Budget that Brighton and Hove can celebrate. Though the news on business rates is welcome, the Government’s failure on NHS and Social care funding - and their refusal to act on air pollution - is utterly inexcusable.

“With our NHS in peril and social care in the midst of a crisis this Budget was a chance for the Government to take a stand for the public services upon which we all rely. Instead they continue to push ahead with planned Corporation tax cuts, and their handout to high earners, while unveiling woefully inadequate funding changes for the NHS and social care. The Government’s obsessions with slimming down the state is causing misery – and their refusal to think again on this issue is inexcusable.”

Lucas welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement on business rates, but said that the ‘devil will be in the detail’ on the policy. She said: “The Chancellor’s announcement on business rates is welcome, and couldn’t have come a moment too soon for the Brighton and Hove Business owners I’ve been speaking to who are worried sick about their future. I’ll be monitoring the roll out of this additional support – and continue to lobby for a better deal for small and micro businesses.”

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