Dear John,

After years of chaos and decline under the Conservatives, people were looking to today’s Budget for a fresh start.

For a sense of hope, urgency, and the promise of a fair deal.

But I fear this Budget won’t deliver that.

The Conservatives left behind an enormous mess in our NHS, and I’m afraid it won’t be fixed, unless the Government fixes social care.

The cost-of-living crisis won’t be solved by hitting families and pensioners, family farms and struggling small businesses.

And our economy won’t grow strongly – unless we repair our broken relationship with Europe.

I’m glad that the Government has listened to Liberal Democrat calls for more investment in the NHS, to start repairing all the damage done to local health services by the Conservatives. We will now hold the Government to account on delivering its promises so people can see a GP or dentist when they need to.

I’m also glad that the Chancellor listened to our campaign on Carer’s Allowance – the focus of our first opposition day debate earlier this month. Raising the earnings limit is a good first step, but we will continue pushing Ministers to abolish the unfair cliff-edge altogether and to hold a broader review to give carers the support they deserve.

But I worry that the Government is still ignoring the elephant in the NHS waiting room: the crisis in social care. That’s why today, I urged the Government to end the dither and delay and finally start cross-party talks on social care now.

And on tax, it is very concerning to see the Chancellor repeat a number of the Conservatives’ mistakes today. Raising employer’s national insurance is a tax on jobs and high streets, and it will make the health and care crisis worse by hitting thousands of small care providers.

Instead of raising the money we need by reversing Conservative tax cuts for the big banks, or asking the social media and tech giants to pay a bit more, the Government has chosen unfair tax hikes that will hurt the hard-working families, small businesses and family farms that are the engines of our economy.

There’s no doubt that the decisions facing the Chancellor were very tough indeed. But I fear she has got too many of them wrong.

We needed a different budget to repair the damage done to our country – and to give people the fair deal they deserve. For our constituents, the Liberal Democrats will continue to push the Government to do far better for our economy, the NHS and care.

Best wishes,