South Kesteven District Council’s leader of the opposition reflects on the impact of the Labour budget

The Office for Budget Responsibility has spoken and it's not good. Last week’s budget, we’re told, will leave everyone poorer — including working people, writes Councillor Graham Jeal, leader of the opposition at South Kesteven District Council

Growth expectations have been slashed. Lincolnshire, with its vibrant tapestry of small businesses, farms and essential public services, faces an onslaught of economic headwinds.

The government’s plan to address intergenerational unfairness making pensioners poorer by cutting winter fuel allowances has already been condemned by many in our area, but the budget went further.

Last year, a SKDC Independent Councillor called on the government to “tax the life out of me”. It seems that their Labour friends have followed that advice. Minimum wage and National Insurance hikes will push local businesses and services towards the edge. Leisure centers in Stamford and Bourne operated by Leisure SK Ltd, already running on tight budgets, will struggle to stay viable. Social care providers, hospices and charities face the same crunch. Inflation bites deeper in rural areas than in the metropolitan heartlands. Everything is about to become more expensive — businesses have to put up prices, the bus fare cap has been increased by 50%, and Stamp Duty hikes threaten to stymie housing development, leaving locals priced out.

And yet, with the full-throated support of South Kesteven’s Independent leadership, we see a slew of renewable energy schemes mushrooming across our countryside. The Leader of the council can barely finish saying, “If not here, where? If not now, when?” to applications such as Mallard Pass before yet another huge solar farm proposal arrives on the desk. Lincolnshire’s countryside face the prospect of towering pylons, more giant solar farms, and unsightly substations. The government’s "Green Book" tells us it’s good for the country because people in the South need electricity, but it feels like Lincolnshire’s getting projects we don’t want, while missing out on things we truly need. Lincolnshire is proud of our beautiful countryside, but ignoring local input on renewable energy projects undermines the whole environmental movement.

Then there’s farming— valiantly toiling against the odds. They battle supply chains, supermarket price squeezes, rural crime, and of course, that most British of adversaries — the weather. Farmers care for our countryside, keeping the UK green and pleasant. Will added inheritance tax make family farming history?

South Kesteven’s chaotic Independent leadership is propped up by Labour councillors, unable — or unwilling — to raise the alarm on the damage this budget will do to our community. It’s time to rally around strong voices that will truly stand up for our county, lest South Kesteven, and Lincolnshire itself, be forever altered.