Cut taxes now! - Guest column from Vince Cable MP

3.46.32pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 13th Oct 2008

Shadow Chancellor for the Liberal Democrats, Vince Cable MP

For years I warned Gordon Brown of the oncoming economic problems. Unsustainable levels of personal debt, mostly secured against the illusory 'wealth' of rising, vastly inflated property prices. An economy based so heavily on debt was never going to be in a fit state to deal with global shocks like the credit crunch.

And so it has proved. Mr Brown is now facing the consequences of his years of inaction. The housing bubble has burst. Unemployment is rising fast. Tens of thousands of families are losing their homes. People are struggling with fast rising prices. It is now almost inevitable that the UK is heading for recession.

What Britain needs now, and urgently, is practical action to help people who are struggling - to put money back in their pockets, to cut their energy bills, and help them keep their homes. We need a serious plan to get Britain's economy up and running again.

That is why Nick Clegg and I have put together the Liberal Democrat Fairer Future Economic Recovery Plan.

Our plan would:

• Put more money in people's pockets - tax cuts for people on low and middle incomes,

• Stop unnecessary home repossessions and provide more affordable housing,

• Make energy companies reinvest their windfall profits in cutting bills, and

• Deliver extra help for people in debt or who lose their jobs.

If you want to know more about the Liberal Democrats plans to help people through the economic crisis, got to www.northandleithlibdems.org.uk/economy