"It feels like hard work isn't enough" Lib Dems call for cost of living action

The Lib Dems plan to take 2.5 million people out of paying income tax altogether by raising the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000.

Our bold plan would put £680 back in people’s pockets, and also take 750,000 ordinary people out of paying the higher 40p tax rate.

People are struggling in a cost-of-living crisis. The Conservatives put their taxes up by stealth, and Labour have made it worse – the equivalent of a 3p rise in income tax.

There’s no way to end the cost-of-living crisis without cutting income tax. Liberal Democrats have done it before – cutting taxes by hundreds of pounds and taking 3.4 million people out of paying income tax altogether.

We'll do it again now, taking 2.5 million people out of paying income tax and giving most people a £680 tax cut, by raising the tax-free personal allowance (and the national insurance threshold) to £15,000.

We’ll also raise the point at which the higher 40p rate of tax kicks in, taking more than 750,000 people out of paying it. Millions of ordinary people – including nurses and teachers – should not be paying a rate designed for stockbrokers and merchant bankers.

Unlike Reform, who claim they’d cut taxes by slashing £22 billion of support for disabled people, we'd pay for these tax cuts through the proceeds of growth when we tear down the damaging Brexit trade barriers.

Our plan for a new Growth and Defence Partnership with the EU is forecast to secure a growth dividend worth £27 billion a year. And we will give £17 billion of it straight back to the British people in the form of our tax cuts.

Charlie Murphy, Liberal Democrat MP candidate for Portsmouth South, said:

“People often tell me that it feels like nothing works as it used to, and it feels like hard work isn't enough to get by anymore.”

"We urgently need action on the cost of living, so I am glad to see this plan which would put £680 back in people's pockets. People in Portsmouth need help with the cost of living now, and this would make a real difference.”

“As a port city, we've seen first hand the disruption Brexit brought to British trade. It is no surprise to us that fixing the UK's broken relationship with Europe would unlock much-needed economic growth.”