Ed Miliband says people 'won't believe' Budget

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31948285

Version 0 of 1.

Chancellor George Osborne delivered a "Budget people won't believe from a government they don't trust", Ed Miliband has said.

The Labour leader said the statement made "no mention of investment in our National Health Service and our vital public services".

And he said the Lib Dems were "locked in the boot of the Conservative Party".

Mr Osborne said Britain was "walking tall again" and that Labour would return it to the "chaos of the past".

Responding to the coalition's final Budget of this Parliament, Mr Miliband said: "Never has the gap between the chancellor's rhetoric and the reality of people's lives been greater."

Council cuts

The Budget included proposals for tax relief for savers and first time buyers, an increase in the personal tax allowance and slightly better than expected growth figures.

But Mr Miliband said Mr Osborne had "failed the working families of Britain", adding: "For the first time since the 1920s, people are earning less at the end of a government than they were at the beginning."

The government is "no friend of the north" despite Mr Osborne's pledge to create a "Northern powerhouse", he said.

"Let's really test him out on whether he is a friend of the north - 75% bigger cuts to local government budgets in the north than the rest of the country."

Read more - Budget reaction live and Budget key points at-a-glance

He said 400,000 working families in the North West had seen their tax credits cut, adding: "That's more than any other region."

One of Mr Osborne's proposals - a cut in the pension pot lifetime allowance saving £600m - had been earmarked by Labour to help fund its flagship pledge to cut tuition fees.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls denied the Treasury had "shot Labour's fox", telling BBC News: "It was a small part of our overall package."

He said Labour would "go away and study the detail" but that the party was confident it had a fully-costed proposal for the cut.

"Obviously we knew he was going to try to do this," he added.