We are helping those who wants to get on, says PM

Just a couple of weeks ago, I visited engineering firm Cinetic Landis up in Keighley. Many of the employees I met there didn’t expect the Government to wave a magic wand: they remembered the state that Labour left our economy in.

But they did want us to make sure our priorities were right: that we backed them as they put in the hours to build a better life for themselves and their children. So we’ve announced an Aspiration Budget that does just that.

Aspiration starts by allowing people who work hard to keep more of their own money instead of giving it to the Government in tax. That’s why we’ve raised the personal allowance once again. From next April, you won’t pay any income tax on the first £10,000 you earn. That’s a tax cut for 1.9 million people in Yorkshire and individuals will pay £700 less than they did in 2010. This says loud and clear, you work hard for your money and we want you to keep more of it.

But aspiration isn’t just about the tax you pay - it’s about being able to afford to get by after you’ve put in the hours every week. Times are very tight. I know families are sitting at the kitchen table trying to work out how to stretch their wage packet to cover the bills.

So with this Budget we’ve done everything possible to help with the cost of living. We’ve frozen fuel duty meaning you won’t spend as much of your salary just getting to work -leaving the average motorist with £170 more in their pocket. Up to 2.7 million motorists in Yorkshire are set to benefit from this.

If you’re a working family, we’re going to pay 20 per cent of your childcare bills, so your wages aren’t swallowed by nurseries and childminders. And we’re taking a penny off a pint, making it just that little bit cheaper to relax at the weekend.

Building an Aspiration Nation also means something else: having enough good, decent jobs to go round. That’s why we’re giving business a further boost by slashing corporation tax to 20 per cent by 2015 -the lowest in the G20 group of major world economies. And we’re also cutting the National Insurance bill of every business by a huge £2,000. That means they will be able to hire four people on minimum wage, without any increase in their bill. This Government is backing business and pulling out all the stops to get people into work.

We’re also creating jobs by building the infrastructure that the region needs: the M1 and M62 are being widened, Leeds is getting a new railway station and super-fast broadband is being installed in York. £174 million has in turn been made available in discounted borrowing for councils to spend on infrastructure projects.

And for most people, aspiration means one more thing: owning a home of their own. So this Budget puts forward £3.5 billion to help more in our country realise that dream, giving people equity loans of up to 20 per cent to help them buy newly built houses.

Make no mistake, we’re in tough economic times. There remain no easy answers and we need to go on taking difficult decisions to clear up Labour’s mess.

But we’re doing everything we can to make life easier for people across Yorkshire who work hard and want to get on. The worker at Cinetic Landis, who’s making the machinery that’s putting Britain on the map. The mum in Leeds, who struggles to fill up her car although she works long shifts day-in day-out. The teenager in Bradford, who’s left college and wants more than anything to get a job and pay their way.

These are the people - and everyone like them- who this Budget is for.