Guest article - Vince Cable on the Chancellor's Pre-budget report

5.00.00pm GMT Wed 9th Dec 2009

Today, bankers will be breathing a sigh of relief. They are faced with a one-off tax that they can easily avoid - while many other people will be facing a permanent tax increase.

In his Pre-Budget Report, Alistair Darling had the chance to clamp down on bankers and set out how he intends to guide the country out of the recession. Instead, all he set out was a weak party manifesto full of gimmicks and empty gestures.

Never before has the British Government run up a deficit like this. We need a sensible and coherent plan for dealing with it, yet the Chancellor ducked the hard choices on spending and cuts. Instead of making the tax system fairer, people on middle incomes will be paying more tax while those at the top enjoy their loopholes. The hidden costs of this budget will be borne by low paid workers who face a cut in real wages because of the 1% pay rise - which is lower than inflation.

In a time of tough demands on government spending it is important we protect frontline public services and the people who work in them. This means there will have to be discipline over pay. That is why I have suggested that there should be a maximum pay rise of £400 a year throughout the public sector. That would mean that workers at the lower end of the payscale would see a real increase but not those at the top.

The Tories would freeze the salaries of millions of teachers, police officers, nurses and firemen while cutting taxes for millionaires. But our proposals would ensure pay rises for key frontline services that are fair and economically realistic. Many public sector workers will also benefit from our £700 income tax cut for people on low and middle incomes.

Our proposals would limit the growth of the public sector pay bill while ensuring fairness for teachers, nurses, police officers and other public sector workers. They will save taxpayers about £4bn a year while reducing pressure on front line services and protecting jobs.

The Liberal Democrats remain the only party that is placing fairness at the heart of all its proposals to repair the economy.

Vince Cable MP

Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor