FEBRUARY 2024 HERALD online

22
Cryptic WEDDING
ANNIVERSARY
answers
1. Paper
2. Cotton
3. Leather
4. Wood
5. Iron
6. Bronze
7. Wool
8. Copper
9. Emerald
10. Steel
11. Pottery
12. Silk
13. Ivory
14. Crystal
15. China
16. Pearl
17. Diamond
18. Sugar
19. Gold
20. Ruby
spot the difference
ANSWERS
1. Clouds missing, 2. Mum top
different colour, 3. Juice in Dad
glass different colour, 4. Boys
watch missing, 5. Rocket on
Dad’s top facing other way, 6.
Flask missing, 7. Daffodil facing
other way, 8. Baguette in hamper
missing, 9. Boy’s glasses different
colour, 10. Pizza toppings
missing.
CROSSWORD
ANSWERS
Across: 1 Bullet, 7 Icebound,
8 Crèche, 10 Rasher, 11 Tarot,
13 Meccano, 16 Sparrow, 17
Boots, 20 Tablet, 22 Abseil, 24
Gendarme, 25 Scythe.
Down: 1 Bobcat, 2 Lace, 3
Tiger, 4 Bearded, 5 Doss, 6
Internet, 9 Choir, 12 Alphabet,
14 Cross, 15 Contort, 18
Silage, 19 Eaves, 21 Lady, 23
East.
PICTOGRAM ANSWERS
1. Second Fiddle
2. Whole Wide World
3. Season’s Greetings
THE HERALD • MID-FEBRUARY 2024 • Tel: 01530 244069 • Email: info@markfieldherald.co.uk
Message from Dr Luke Evans MP
At the start of January the
Government’s 2pc tax cut
to National Insurance –
from 12pc to 10pc – came
into force to ensure you
keep more of what you
earn and, by now, you’ll
hopefully have seen that
reflected in your paypackets.
It’s a start. I’m pleased to see that
wages are growing faster than
inflation, which we can all agree is
welcome news!
Since the Government announced
this tax cut, the criticism levelled in
response is that the tax burden is
the highest it’s been in 70 years.
They’re right, the tax burden is too
high. But simply stating this doesn’t
acknowledge how we got here,
nor does it take into account the
challenge of inflation.
In this month’s column, I wanted to
address this…
How we got here
Less than four years ago the world
was plunged into a pandemic.
Overnight, children were told to
learn online, workers didn’t return to
their desks and pubs, restaurants,
hairdressers and gyms shut their
doors as we all stayed at home
to protect one another. The cost
of this, both financially and to the
wellbeing of many people across
our community, is still felt today.
The Treasury estimates the overall
cost of Covid-19 support to be
around £370 billion. Then, as
Covid-19 restrictions lifted, Russia
began its illegal invasion of Ukraine
and global energy prices hit the
roof. The Cost of Living support
packages that followed, including
stepping in to pay around half of
every household’s energy bills, cost
£97 billion.
To put these sums into perspective,
the financial crash of 2008 cost
£137bn and was followed by the
deepest recession experienced
in the United Kingdom, and much
of the western world, since the
Second World War. In 2019, ten
years later, nearly 20% of this debt
(£27bn) was still outstanding.
There are many who thought
Covid-19 lockdowns should
have lasted longer or been more
extensive and that energy support
packages should have been
greater. But, as Margaret Thatcher
once said, “The Government have
no money of their own. There
is only taxpayer money.” The
Government stepped in to ensure
families, people’s jobs and their
businesses were protected but this
all comes with a resulting cost to
the taxpayer.
Tackling inflation
Inflation in the UK is now down to
4%. It’s been said “Inflation is the
parent of unemployment and the
unseen robber of those who have
saved.” This is still double the Bank
of England’s target of 2%, but is
a real improvement on November
2022 when inflation hit 11.1%, the
highest in more than 40 years.
However, this is not an issue which
the UK is facing alone. The world
is battling high inflation. Last year
the Eurozone fell into recession as
France and Germany shrunk, with
Germany now expected to enter its
first two-year recession in decades.
We’ve done well to avoid this, with
OECD data recently showing the
UK economy has outperformed
Germany, France, Spain and Italy
since 2010. We’ve all faced the
same challenges, the financial
crash, Covid-19 and the cost of
fighting a proxy-war, and while
times have been difficult the UK has
fared better than most.
Inflation impacts everything, from
your savings to your mortgage
rates and monthly food prices.
Ensuring inflation comes down
before announcing any tax cuts, as
the Prime Minister and Chancellor
did last year, was absolutely the
right thing to do. Slashing taxes
too soon or giving in to way above
inflation public sector pay demands
would have caused inflation to bed
in and meant that anything the
Government gave with one hand,
inflation would have swiftly taken
with another.
What does this mean
for us locally?
As I write this column I’ve not long
come out of a meeting between the
Chancellor and MPs from across
the East Midlands, in which we
discussed the priorities of people
across our community.
Among other issues, I raised
funding for Special Educational
Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
provision, changes in healthcare,
support for businesses and our
County Council which provides
everything from education to
social care. I welcome Michael
Gove’s recent announcement of
an additional £500m for Local
Authorities with responsibility for
adult and children’s social care.
As ever, you can keep up-to-date
on my work for our area by visiting
www.drlukeevans.org.uk or if you
have a casework or policy query
you would like me to look into
please email me at luke.evans.
mp@parliament.uk.
Dr Luke Evans MP
Member of Parliament for
Bosworth • House of Commons
• London • SW1A 0AA
email: luke.evans.mp@
parliament.uk
web: drlukeevans.org.uk
tel: constituency: 07920 619812
tel: parliament: 0207 219 4250
mobile: 07920 619812
Facebook: drlukeevansmp
instagram: drlukeevans
The deadline for
the Mid-March
issue is Saturday
2nd March.
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