| The General Election is approaching and like many others, constituency #1 is proving to be hotly contested. PLP candidate Jacqueline Bryan has been out across East Basseterre meeting local people and hearing their stories.House after house, the issue that came up regularly was the rising prices of food and other essentials that have been fuelled by global economic pressures and the war in Ukraine.Residents spoke about how the rising prices are causing them to struggle to make ends meet, and that they feared the growing global uncertainty would put even more pressure on family budgets.Jacqueline picked up the story, “People in East Basseterre have been telling me they are concerned that food and fuel prices will continue to rise. That’s why the PLP Government put in place a series of programmes to support people. Hundreds of people have been supported with the Income Support Programme, food and fuel taxes have been cut, and electricity reconnection fees have been waived to prevent people living in the dark.“But we’re going to do more. This is no time to scrap PAP, not when bills are rising, we will increase PAP from September 1st and reduce VAT too. These will help to put more money in people’s pockets.”At recent PLP campaign events, Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris has sought to demonstrate how these measures can be paid for because of his economic management – and contrasted this with the record or other administrations.Dr. Harris said, “Because we can manage the economy we can protect the people. We will increase PAP and we will reduce VAT to protect them against rising costs.“Terrance Drew has already announced he will scrap PAP – because he can’t manage the economy, so he won’t be able to fund it. Labour’s record of high taxes and high bills means they will leave you poorer. Don’t risk it – vote PLP.” |
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