Simon Jupp, MP for East Devon writes for this title.

We are cutting National Insurance again to help working people with the cost of living and we are protecting the triple lock for the older generation.

In last week’s Budget, the Chancellor announced that we’re cutting taxes for 27 million working people from April, by again cutting the main rate of employee National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from 10% to 8%. Combined with the tax cut at the Autumn Statement, that is a tax cut of over £900 for the average worker.

We are also cutting taxes for two million of the self-employed, by cutting the main rate of Class 4 NICs from 9% to 6%, supporting the NHS with an additional £2.45 billion next year to make progress on getting waiting lists down, freezing fuel duty for the fourteenth consecutive year, taking thousands of businesses out of paying VAT by increasing the VAT threshold for small businesses, extending the Household Support Fund to September and freezing alcohol duty, which will support over 8,000 hospitality venues in the South West. We’re also extending the current rate of Theatre Tax Relief beyond April 2025 – something I know has been welcomed across the cultural sector.

As announced at the Autumn Statement, the state pension will rise by 8.5%, in line with our Triple Lock – ensuring dignity in older age for those who have worked their entire lives. This means pensioners will receive up to £900 more a year from this April. Last year, the state pension rose by 10.1% in line with inflation. This year’s rise is well above the current rate of inflation as this year’s rise is in line with average earnings growth figures, which were inflated because of bonuses paid to public sector workers. I repeatedly emphasise with the Prime Minister and Chancellor the importance of the Triple Lock to help protect pensioners' spending power because it offers vital economic security for many people in East Devon.

In the future, I would like the government to revisit the personal allowance tax threshold so fewer pensioners on fairly modest pension incomes from their state and private pensions have to pay income tax. We introduced the Triple Lock, and if you’ve paid taxes your entire working life, you deserve support as you grow older and a decent standard of living.

Because of the progress made, the Chancellor has been able to afford tax cuts as part of our plan to reward work and grow the economy. The economy is turning a corner after Covid and war in Ukraine. Inflation has more than halved. Mortgage rates are starting to fall. Wages are rising, and the economy has outperformed our European neighbours.

The Spring Budget therefore cuts taxes so you keep more of your money and rewards hard work. That’s my type of Conservatism, which is also about long-term investment into our country and county.

Since I was elected in 2019, I have successfully secured a new school to replace Tipton St John Primary, £15.7m from the Levelling Up Fund, a new police station for Exmouth, and a banking hub for Sidmouth, which is being fitted out at the moment. I’ve met with the Chancellor to ask for more funding to resurface and repair Devon’s roads, and the government has delivered £13 million extra to Devon recently to turbocharge pothole repairs.

I will continue with my campaigns to help the hospitality and tourism industry, improve SEND funding and invest in our roads.

Finally, it was great to welcome Home Secretary James Cleverly to Sidmouth last weekend to talk to residents with Police & Crime Commissioner, Alison Hernandez. We have record police officer numbers in Devon & Cornwall & Honiton's police station has recently reopened to the public, with more to come.