At the March meeting of Calder Valley Constituency Labour Party (CLP) our members unanimously agreed the following resolution…

This CLP notes with concern the following:

• The large projected cuts to the Welfare budget.
• The attacks on the future budget of Labour’s flagship GB Energy and the Green Transition.
• The proposed cuts to the UK Aid Budget to finance the increase in the Defence Budget.
• The perilous state of local government finances and the large cuts to local services being forced on councils.
• Whether in the UK or Internationally these cuts will seriously affect poor people at home and abroad.

As a CLP:

• We realise that the incoming Labour government faces a worse financial situation than previously thought.
• We believe however that it is time to revisit the government’s self-imposed rules on taxation.
• With the new financial situation we should not follow the coalition governments years of austerity.
• Instead we should finance, defend and improve services by taxing wealth and increasing Capital Gains tax and taxes on businesses, rather than attacking the poorest in society with cuts.
• We will set up a group to compile and submit our response to the current green paper on benefits reform. We will send a copy of the response to our Labour MP, Josh Fenton-Glynn, and ask him to support it in parliament.