Budget: Pensioner is pleased rise in fuel duty is cancelled
Elsie Long - Credit: Archant
ELSIE Long, a pensioner from Bury St Edmunds, said the budget “could have been worse”.
The 78-year-old, a grandmother-of-seven, is pleased a rise in fuel duty has been cancelled by Chancellor George Osborne, but is unhappy she will have to pay more for a bottle of wine.
She said: “I was hoping he wouldn’t have put the fuel duty tax up. I’m not a driver, but my son has got a car. I think when you put that up it affects everything else, transportation and the prices go up in the shops. But he’s cancelled that and I’m quite happy with it.”
Mrs Long, who used to work in an opticians and post office, said sensible drinkers were being “penalised” by the increase in the cost of wine.
“I buy myself one bottle a week and usually have a smallish glass with my meal at night. I’m not very happy about that [increase in cost of wine]. They penalise us sensible drinks. It’s not fair really.”
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She added: “I will still buy my wine while I can afford it. I have worked all my life and I’m entitled to a little treat.”
She believed the increase would not stop young people abusing alcohol.
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Mrs Long, of Devon Close, added: “A lot of this he’s talking about could take two or three years and by then we could have a new Government and it could be irrelevant.”
She said the gloomy growth forecast in the Budget 2013 was a worry. “We have got to grow to get anywhere,” she said.
The Conservatives may blame Labour for the mess, but Mrs Long said “it was the bankers who caused all the trouble. The whole world is in the same situation”.
She said she tried not to think about inflation, adding: “I’m comfortable and have what I want.”
She felt pensioners would not be as affected by the budget as working families.
