Whitehaven resident Gerard has hit out at the “layer of treacle” in Whitehall as he joined Bev Turner in the Cumbrian town to look ahead to today’s Spring Budget.
Lamenting the Government’s supposed lack of investment in the area, he said the North West of England is primed for nuclear facilities.
He said there’s an element of Government ineffectiveness behind a perceived lack of support for the area, saying everything seems “tied up in knots” in Westminster.
“Things have been going on in this country, it seems like they have been for decades”, he said.
Gerard joined Bev Turner on GB News
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“I was browsing old newspapers the other day, in 1992 Whitehaven News, the headline was ‘we will not be rushed on nuclear power’, that was 32 years ago.
“We’re still waiting for a bleeding reactor. This is a nuclear-friendly area.
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“Bring us a reactor, bring us some jobs. Get some investment going.
“Everything feels like it’s been tied up in knots. There’s a layer of treacle in Whitehall or the Civil Service.”
Bev responded to praise Gerard’s “brilliant contribution” to the discussion.
She also praised his “common sense, northern truisms.”
Jeremy Hunt will deliver his Budget today
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Gerard lamented Government ineffectiveness
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Jeremy Hunt is set to unveil his raft of economic measures to Parliament having come under pressure from Tory MPs to ease the record-high tax burden.
He is expected to make a 2p cut to national insurance central to his Budget, pledging to deliver “more opportunity and more prosperity”.
The change could save the average worker £40 a year, adding up to £900 when combined with last year’s identical move in the autumn statement.
Two former home secretaries criticised the move, with Suella Braverman saying “my preference would be 2p off the basic rate of income tax” and Dame Priti Patel calling for the unfreezing of income tax thresholds.
In comments ahead of his Budget, Hunt said: “Because of the progress we’ve made because we are delivering on the Prime Minister’s economic priorities we can now help families with permanent cuts in taxation.
“We do this not just to give help where it is needed in challenging times. But because Conservatives know lower tax means higher growth. And higher growth means more opportunity and more prosperity.”
He added that growth “cannot come from unlimited migration”, but “can only come by building a high-wage, high-skill economy”.
