Harrogate MP says Chancellor 'missed opportunity to deliver change for Harrogate and Knaresborough' in Spring Statement

Speaking after yesterday’s Spring Statement, the Harrogate MP said Rachel Reeves had failed to deliver any new funding for the often-ignored communities of Northern England.

Mr Gordon also pointed out that the Spring Statement confirmed that taxes are to rise on small businesses through the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions and the minimum wage.

The Liberal Democrats are urging the Labour Government to raise money not from local high streets but by asking the big banks, social media giants and online gambling companies to pay their fair share.

“There is no doubt the Conservatives left our economy in tatters but the Chancellor has missed her chance to deliver the change and growth we need here in Harrogate and Knaresborough,” said Mr Gordon.

“People in my constituency are already struggling with eye-watering bills, businesses are buckling under pressure and our public services are crumbling.

“The Spring Statement was a real opportunity for the Government to turn things round for the better but, instead, it will just inflict more pain on our small businesses and high streets, cut public services and, even worse, punch down on disabled people.

“The Government is abandoning ordinary people - and the North more widely.

“We need the Government to urgently change course and look to boost growth in much fairer and effective ways, raising money from the banking, tech and gambling giants, not disabled people, the businesses in our high streets and the farmers in our community.”

Amid a squeeze on welfare benefits which has angered many MPs on her own side, the Chancellor's Spring Statement promised brighter days and more money in the pocket of consumers with Rachel Reeves claiming that “households would be on average £500 a year better off under this government”.

With reduced Business Rates Relief and the Employers’ National Insurance increase kicking in from April 6, small business and the hospitality sector feel left out of any feel-good factor.

A leading comparison site for small businesses, Bionic, said hospitality and tourism businesses were the most worried about shutting down in 2025, with nearly half saying they think they might have to close.

Some parts of the business world welcomed the fact housing, planning and skills featured prominently in the Chancellor’s speech.

Others said the shake-up to Universal Credit and the tightening of the rules on claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) may help to plug recruitment shortages.

But the National Institute of Economic and Social Research questioned the whole point of the benefits squeeze.

It said, while spending reforms would enable the Government to meet its fiscal rules now, overall, the policy announcements had neither improved the United Kingdom’s trend growth outlook nor placed the public finances on a fundamentally more sustainable path for the years ahead.

This, it said, called into question the necessity of the spending cuts that had financed the new fiscal headroom.

Worse still, US President Donald Trump’s plans for more trade tariffs has led to a warning that the Chancellor’s latest painful efforts to be fiscally responsible will be overtaken by events before long.