The pre-Budget report has been roundly condemned by South Dorset Liberal Democrats as a wasted opportunity to help ordinary people in Dorset.

This was a golden opportunity for the Chancellor to help ordinary people by reducing the basic rate of income tax. Instead, he has announced a £5billion tax hike!

The rise in National Insurance will hit anyone earning over £19,000. In comparison, relatively few people will ever actually pay the new 45p rate on incomes over £150,000. That’s a smoke screen, not a real attempt to make taxes fairer. It will raise less than 10% of the extra money which workers and employers will have to pay in National Insurance.

Liberal Democrats are also angry that the government is still not doing enough to ease the affordable housing crisis in South Dorset. We want councils to be allowed to build social housing, reversing a policy introduced by Margaret Thatcher.

Putting money into building more affordable housing is good for everybody. The economy would benefit from the capital investment and from the jobs that would be created. Hundreds of thousands of people who have been on housing waiting lists for years would benefit by finally getting a chance to move into a decent home.

Liberal Democrat proposals for helping people to get through the financial crisis and for stimulating the economy include a 4p cut in the basic rate of income tax paid for by closing tax loopholes used by the wealthy, investing in capital projects such as social housing, energy efficiency and public transport to bring long-term benefits and taking steps to ease the credit crisis by compelling banks to lend money to viable businesses.