BUDGET DOES NOT ADD UP

2.43.01pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 12th Mar 2008

Following the Chancellor's budget announcement, Lembit Öpik, MP for Montgomeryshire said today:

"The Chancellor's promise to 'equip Britain for the times ahead' is not backed up by actual events.

"In Powys alone, we have witnessed a 158% increase in bankruptcies and a 300% increase in Individual Voluntary Arrangements in the last seven years.

"The culture of borrowing and lending that has bolstered the economic boom in recent years has left an increasing number of people unable to cope with the economic slump we are now facing.

"The Chancellor has forecast a debt level of 37.1% of GDP, and committed to a further rise in Government borrowing to £43 billion.

"How are we to believe then that the Government is 'committed to encouraging people to save' while it seems that the Government itself is participating in the exact opposite kind of behaviour?"