LOCAL MP Gideon Amos pledged to keep fighting for interim funding for the maternity unit at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, despite Chancellor Rachel Reeves not making any mention of Somerset in her Budget on Wednesday (November 26).

Mr Amos told Government Ministers the only thing more leaky than the Budget announcement was the maternity unit’s roof.

He repeated a call for interim funding for Musgrove while it awaited a promised maternity unit rebuild in 2033.

Mr Amos was disappointed the Government was pressing ahead with plans for a ‘family farm tax’.

Ahead of the Budget, he joined protesting farmers in Westminster and said: “We all understand the biggest landowners in the country should pay their fair share.

“But, the family farm tax, alongside closing all farming funding programmes, could be ruinous for average-sized family farms, many of which would need to be broken up for sale when older generations pass away.

“Farmers often work for way below the minimum wage but do it to put food on to our tables.

“The tax hits the poorest farms hardest and needs to be scrapped or completely redesigned so small farms are protected from being broken up.”

Mr Amos said the Budget also raised significant tax implications for people because the Government was continuing a Conservative idea of freezing tax thresholds.

He said: “So, as income rises, more and more people will end up paying tax in higher bands.

“What we as Lib Dems wanted to see was much more help for people with the cost of living.

“We called for a boost to the hospitality and leisure sector with a five per cent cut in their VAT.

“We also wanted a reduction in electricity bills which we would have funded by a tax on bank profits – the ‘big four’ banks are set to make £50 billion in profit this year.”