THE LIB DEM PLAN TO RESCUE OUR UK ECONOMY

We will cut taxes for low and middle income earners

Liberal Democrats know that people on low and middle incomes are struggling to make ends meet. To help we will make the tax system permanently fairer cutting income taxes for people on low and middle incomes. By raising the threshold at which people start paying tax we can take over 5 million people out of tax and cut people's income tax bill by over £700. We would pay for this tax cut by closing tax loopholes, which benefit the wealthy such as by restricting tax relief on pensions to the basic rate and taxing capital gains as income. We would also crack down on tax avoidance pursued by the very wealthy and big business.

We will stabilise the economy and crack down on the city

The Liberal Democrats were the only party to warn that Gordon Brown's boom built on debt and vastly inflated house prices would lead to bust, now we are the only party with a plan to stabilise the economy and crack down on the city. We will ensure that bankers are never rewarded for taking short term risks at the expense of long term stability. We will separate banks so that people who simply want to save their money in a high street bank don't have their money put at risk by investment banks taking high risk gambles. If a bank wants to take high risks we will regulate them to ensure that if it fails it doesn't bring down the whole financial system and if it makes mistakes we will let it fail.

We will tackle repossessions and create new jobs

Repossessions are not only bad for the people who lose their homes, but they are also bad for the economy. Liberal Democrats would instruct the courts to ensure that someone's home can only ever be repossessed as a last resort, mortgage lenders would to prove they had exhausted all other avenues such as a loan renegotiation and shared ownership. The Liberal Democrats would also not waste £12.5bn on the Labour VAT cut; instead we would use this money to create jobs for today and assets for the future. Such programs would include insulating people's homes and upgrading rail services.

Local Lib Dems fight Woking economic downturn

The Economic Regeneration Task Group, a cross- party working group proposed by Woking Liberal Democrat councillors to fight the Woking economic downturn, has started work in earnest. The Task Group has found that that the economic crisis has clearly hit Woking . Council officers consulted WAVS, the CAB and employment recruitment agencies to assess the impact of the crisis.

Responding to the council research, Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesman, Rosie Sharpley, said:

"It is sad to see how bad the economic situation really is. Applications for job vacancies have shot through the roof. Most agencies reported hundreds of jobseekers chasing very few vacancies. In some cases, there are 30 to 40 people chasing one job vacancy. One agency has around 200 people chasing just 3 job vacancies."

"I was shocked to read the report stating that the average unsecured debt of a Woking resident that the CAB is dealing with is £20 000. They are also dealing directly with £17.5 million of debt, which does not include the debt that residents are handling themselves."

Woking Liberal Democrats support the cross-party group initiated and chaired by Lib Dem Group Leader on the Council, Cllr Ian Johnson.

Cllr Ian Johnson said:

"We are determined to fight the economic downturn in Woking by implementing plans to do what we can to stimulate local business and helping our residents, where we can, through this economic crisis. I am very pleased that the Conservatives support our concerns and ideas. We are all in this together. Woking is a great place to live and to do business and we are keen to keep it that way."