Budget delivers for Cumbria says Farron

Local MP Tim Farron has welcomed today's budget which he believes 'delivers for Cumbria.'

Tim highlighted a series of policies that will benefit people and boost the Cumbrian economy. He highlighted the further increase in the personal tax allowance to £10,500 which means an £800 tax cut for average taxpayers. The new cash ISA limit of £15,000 will almost triple the tax free cash savings allowance for Cumbria's savers and the Chancellor has once again frozen fuel duty following Tim's campaign to help rural motorists.

The Chancellor also announced that the government is building on the success of the Apprenticeship Grants for Employers scheme, by providing an extra £85 million in both 2014-15 and 2015-16 for over 100,000 grants to employers. This money will build on Tim's apprenticeship campaign, which has seen a 96% increase in the number of apprenticeships available in South Lakeland in the last two years.

Tim welcomed the good news for Cumbria's pensioners with the Chancellor announcing the most radical change to the way people take their pensions for nearly a century, by giving people greater choice about how to access their defined contribution pension savings. From April 2015, individuals aged 55 or over with defined contribution pension savings will be able to withdraw these savings however they wish. This will end the situation many people face of being effectively forced to buy an annuity.

Energy intensive businesses such as Croppers in Burneside are also set to benefit from new measures announced to help firms who have switched to renewable sources of energy. The government will now exempt fuel used in Combined Heat and Power plants for generating electricity from the Carbon Price Floor. This will help make sure manufacturing firms have a greater incentive to 'go green'.

Tim also welcomed the news that the Chancellor will relieve VAT on fuel for Air Ambulances and Inshore Rescue boat services and the 1p cut in beer duty.

Tim said: "This budget is good news for people throughout Cumbria and I hope that they can see our campaigns on fuel prices, apprenticeships and tax cuts are being picked up nationally.

"For businesses like Croppers, I have pushed and pushed the government to look at how companies like them get hit by the amount of energy they use. Today's announcement will hopefully make a massive difference to them.

"The changes announced today to pensions savings are good news for those approaching retirement. We have also fought to freeze fuel duty, cut beer duty and the announcement of the further increase in the tax threshold means that an average worker in South Lakeland will get a £800 tax cut. This is welcome news and will make a massive difference."