City MPs accused of breaking their promise to people of Milton Keynes over National Insurance rise

MPs Ben Everitt and Iain Stewart have broken their promise to the people of Milton Keynes, local Liberal Democrats have claimed.

They say the Conservative manifesto that got the MPs elected pledged not to raise taxes.

Yet both of them this week voted for the plan to raise National Insurance by 1.25%. This will mean hard-pressed local families and small businesses will be left paying hundreds of pounds more in tax each year, say the Lib Dems.

317 Conservative MPs supported the rise. Liberal Democrat MPs voted against it, arguing that they fail to fix the ongoing social care crisis and will fall disproportionately on the young, the low paid and small businesses.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a cross-party agreement on social care, to find a long-term solution to funding high-quality care for everyone who needs it.

Liberal Democrat group leader on Milton Keynes Council, Councillor Robin Bradburn, said: “MPs Ben Everitt and Iain Stewart stood on a clear promise at the last election not to raise taxes, including National Insurance. Now they have voted to break that promise by hitting hard-pressed families and small businesses in Milton Keynes with a tax hike at a time many are still reeling from the impact of the pandemic.

“The people of Milton Keynes deserve better than this. They need MPs who they can trust and who will fight for a fairer deal for our area.

“Unlike our MPs Ben Everitt and Iain Stewart, the Liberal Democrats opposed these unjust plans in Parliament. We have been clear about how to fix the social care crisis in a fairer way, instead of hiking taxes on those who can least afford it.”

Ben Everitt told the Citizen today: "“Yesterday’s vote was in favour of the Government beginning the process of putting a much-needed plan for social care through Parliament. Unfortunately Labour voted against fixing social care."

He added: “As I said in my speech in the House of Commons yesterday there are some issues with the government’s proposed plan and we need to have a big conversation about the planned increase of national insurance but it’s right we begin that conversation now and work on getting it right.”