Budget is ‘Incredibly Obscure’

Manx Labour Party Leader Joney Faragher has criticised the island’s Budget process, saying two weeks is not enough time for members to properly consider gov spending.

Today’s Budget is yet to be voted on at the time of writing.

In her speech, Ms Faragher said: ‘This is the first budget I have been involved with since being elected. I have found the process very surprising for two reasons. Firstly, the time given. and I want to be totally honest here because I think it’s important. We have been given a presentation two weeks before budget day, and then have to somehow digest this complex, technical and hugely important 183-page document in between all our other roles and without any neutral guidance. Mr President it’s no good us pretending that this should have been an achievable target.

‘This budget is presented in an incredibly obscure and impenetrable way. Nothing is explained clearly – allow me to present just one example. I ask you to refer to page 59 on which Net Expenditure for DESC is given. Note in the first column of the first table that in 20/21 budget there was a breakdown of services provided within education. As you can see, just for examples, student grants, and free school meals are two that feature here with a clear amount. However, from 21 onwards there are no amounts provided, and it appears that these services have been consolidated into impenetrably named areas such as Policy, Strategy and Governance. Which one of these areas deals with free school meals, and how does spending on these compare with previous years? This information is simply not there. Why has this been done, for what purpose? It seems to make information less accessible.’

The Douglas East MHK said it was just one example of how the Budget process isn’t as open as it could be and is hard to judge in comparison to previous years. She added that ‘no input goes into the budget from MHKs outside of Treasury – who were ALL elected in September last year’.

Status Quo

Ms Faragher also said: ‘One area to pick up on that I feel concern about is the unclear information provided around public transport. In the context of being in a climate emergency, which we acknowledged in May 2019, I was very much hoping and expecting to see clear investment in the future, with a sharp rise in the amount of public money allocated for public transport, so that people who want to, can increase their use of it. Mr President. How else are we going to meet our climate targets? Although, again, the information is not presented in a clear way, it seems that the budget for the Transport Services Division is to remain stable, as shown in table 46. I also note that there is no proposed change to bus fares – which is disappointing. A reduction in bus fares, or indeed a trial of removing fares – Fare Free Friday, for example – would have been an excellent initiative to headline this administration’s first budget, showing our focus upon both the climate emergency, and giving tangible support to low-earners, in one simple area. Come on people – aren’t we wanting to see a bit of people-centred policy, isn’t it time for a bit of forward-thinking, a bit of innovative leadership?

‘There are positives. I am pleased to see a decent uplift in carer’s allowance, and the 5% increase to some other benefits. I’m glad to see the personal allowance in income tax be increased. But we also see that disability benefits are cut relative to inflation, and maternity allowance remains frozen. And where is the reflection of the fact that Tynwald has approved the poverty committee’s recommendation that income-related benefit rates should include a proportional link to the living wage? I also (do echo the words of my colleagues) (CONSIDER) that the uplift for pensions is low, and I would like to know more about whether there has been any review undertaken of how this impacts people in receipt of pension? Is this enough to meet rising living costs – the Consumer Price index has been pushing 7% over the last month. 

‘In conclusion, despite some positives, I feel that this budget is very much a retention of the status quo. When in fact, we have a housing crisis, and a demographics imbalance, and a foodbank (!), growing unrest within the ranks of our essential workers, and the climate emergency.. the Treasury Min mentioned the word ‘prudent’ several times in his speech, as well as saying that this is ‘not the time to react with knee-jerk financial changes’ – and although I agree that knee-jerk changes are not desirable, I must say that If this isn’t the time to be – research-based and data-driven – but BOLD, Mr President, I don’t know what is…’