Social care and defence were two of the most notable omissions from the Budget yesterday.
Campaigners for the elderly said it was shocking that the Chancellor had failed to address the social care crisis, which has been blamed for fuelling problems in the NHS.
Charities have warned a million elderly people are not receiving the care they need due to funding cuts, leading to care home closures and staff shortages.
Campaigners for the elderly said it was shocking that the Chancellor had failed to address the social care crisis during his Budget statement
Social care policy has in effect been frozen since the PM was forced to axe her election plans to make homeowners pay more for their care after they were dubbed a ‘dementia tax’. Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann said: ‘Nothing has been put aside by families or the Government.
‘We have an ever-worsening crisis and this was an opportunity to start initiatives to help begin solving the crisis. It hasn’t even started on the right road.’
Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said: ‘The Budget’s failure to acknowledge the enormous problems facing social care is desperately short-sighted and can only result in the numbers of older people going without the care they need – already disgracefully at more than a million in England – ratcheting up.’
Michelle Mitchell, of the MS Society, said: ‘The fact that there is no more money for social care is alarming. The system desperately needs money now.
‘Already one in three people with MS are struggling without the proper care they need.’
Labour MP James Frith said: ‘Nothing whatsoever on social care in the Budget. Shocking. The biggest issue at the election and the single biggest issue we face and they’ve bottled it or forgotten it.’
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Judith Jolly said: ‘The Government has provided less than half the money the NHS says it needs to cope, and no additional funding has been provided for social care. This is nowhere near enough to stave off the looming disaster facing our NHS and social care services.’
The Chancellor’s failure to cough up extra money for the Armed Forces was also greeted with anger. Former defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon said last month more money was needed to deal with growing threats from Islamic State and Russia.
But defence was not mentioned once in the Budget speech. Ex-Colour Sergeant Trevor Coult, 41, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery, said: ‘Not only does the Ministry of Defence ignore veterans, it’s now apparent they ignore the ones still serving. God help us all.’
Critics have said that the ‘hollowing out’ of Britain’s armed forces has become very dangerous
Former shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker said: ‘Absolutely astonishing that there was not a word on defence spending in the Budget.’
Lord West, former head of the Royal Navy, said the ‘hollowing out’ of the military was getting extremely dangerous and it was ‘extraordinary’ that defence did not feature in the Budget.
He said: ‘They will all mouth platitudes about how the most important thing for any government is the defence and security of the nation.
‘And yet nothing that he [Philip Hammond] said… actually mentioned the Armed Forces or the police at all, and I find that quite extraordinary… I was deeply saddened.’
While the Chancellor cheered Eurosceptic Tories yesterday by setting aside an additional £3billion for Brexit preparations, he made no mention of the looming divorce bill – despite fears that it could top £40billion.
The Office for Budget Responsibility also left the bill out of its annual statement on the public finances, saying: ‘No allowance for any one-off or ongoing EU exit-related payment – the “divorce settlement” – can be made until more information becomes available’.
There were also no big announcements in the Budget for savers, including Isa allowance limits increasing in line with inflation as they have done in previous years.
Although the Chancellor pledged to tackle the problem of graduates overpaying their student loans in future, there was nothing about cutting interest.