Autumn/Winter Statment

The autumn statement has been transformed. It used to be an ordinary day in parliament where the chancellor updated MPs and the the public (or at least the public who read the FT) on the progress made since the budget. It is now a set piece event to rival budget day, taking on even greater importance five months out from a general election.

Most of what was said in the autumn statement had already been announced, the dualling of 13 miles of the A1 was lauded as a victory, with North East Tories and Lib-dems tripping over each other to take credit for a road improvement which is welcome, but amounts to less than half a job, stopping 25 miles south of the Scottish border.

The NHS was promised extra cash, which would be welcome, if some of had not previously been cut from NHS budgets. The chancellors smoke and mirrors on the NHS will fail to hide the squeeze NHS budgets caused by a costly £3Bn top down reorganisation.

Stamp duty hit the headlines, I'm still yet to see a simple breakdown of how this will work, it sounds like tax cut for those moving house, but the chancellor failed to address the unfairness in the system when someone living in a £290,000 family home pays the as the owner of £10M mansion.

Hexham's current MP was mentioned in the debate, not by Osborne, but by the speaker, who on two occasions had to ask him to stop heckling loudly. On the first occasion the telling off was jovial, speaker Bercow saying that Northumberland's only Tory MP was normally a 'good boy', the second time the speaker had to intervene he invited Mr Opperman to leave the chamber.

The sitting MP for Hexham in transmit mode, when he should have been listening. On the first occasion he was rebuked, The shadow chancellor was explaining that the since the Conservative-led government came to power wages have fallen by £1600. Low wages are at the core of the deficit problem. People on low pay quite rightly, do not pay tax. When people are having their wages driven down, it not only affects their family and quality of life, it affects the government and borrowing gets out of control.

The second time the speaker had to intervene, Ed Balls was talking about an issue that affects the Hexham constituency directly. Air passenger duty in Scotland is now devolved, Newcastle airport has to compete with Scottish airports and could be disadvantaged if central government do not act, concerns must be addressed, rather than shouted down.

The chancellor's autumn statement was an attempt to distract from the fact that he has failed in his own terms, the deficit is still growing while pay is falling. The next Labour government will be faced with some difficult decisions, but we will see a real change from the status quo. We will implement a progressive mansion tax, and use tobacco levies to properly fund our NHS and provide an integrated health and social care system. We will end exploitative zero-hours contracts and tackle low pay. The choice in May 2015 is clear, the electorate have the chance to elect a government who will build an economy that works for all, and not just the few at the top.