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Reasons to vote Liberal Democrat

April 5, 2012 12:01 AM
By Andrew Stunell MP

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Our local record of service - all year round, not just at election time.

Lib Dem councillors across the country work hard for local people. We listen to our communities and try to give them a voice in decisions made that affect them. In power we work to protect the services people most value, and to protect the most vulnerable in society.

We are putting more money back in the pockets of hardworking people.

This year every single Lib Dem-run council has frozen their council tax bills - for the second year running. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives can say the same, with Labour-run Redcar, Leicester and Nottingham, and Tory-run Peterborough, Chelmsford and Surrey among the culprits who are driving up their bills this year.

Nationally, from this Friday, Liberal Democrats will deliver another £130 income tax cut to every basic rate taxpayer. That's 25 million people getting a tax cut and 1 million people lifted out of paying Income Tax altogether thanks to us. And we're making the rich pay. They face increased capital gains tax, an annual banker's levy (worth £2.5bn each year) and even having to pay VAT on their private jets - something that despite all their posturing, Labour never got around to doing when they were in power. Combined with £900m invested in the battle against tax evasion, and the caps on tax reliefs introduced in the budget, we're also doing more to make sure the rich actually do pay their fair share, and can't dodge it.

There's plenty else.

The second year of record rises to Pensions, with pensioners set to benefit from a rise of £5.30 a week this year, on top of the £4.50 rise last year.

There's an extra £1.25bn for the Pupil Premium, targeted at our most disadvantaged pupils ensuring that they can have a fair start in life as well. We're creating jobs, and supporting young people in the difficult path back into work by driving a record expansion of apprenticeships to over half a million, and the Youth Contract designed to get over 400,000 young people earning or learning.

And we're giving real power and control back to local areas, particularly over planning. We're protecting the Greenbelt and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, ensuring that brownfield land is used first for development, whilst also striking a sensible balance between protecting the environment and building the homes we so desperately need. And we're giving councils and communities real say over what is developed in their areas through neighbourhood planning. Planning is set to become a bottom-up community-driven process, not the top-down imposition it's been for far too long.

We've had some tough choices to make, and at time some difficult compromises too, a necessity of coalition. But we've also achieved a lot of what we have campaigned for, and there is more to come.

Andrew Stunell MP is the Liberal Democrat Communities Minister with responsibility for community cohesion and race equality.

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