Japanese PM pledges cross-party coordination in parliament to achieve policies

Tokyo, Nov 30 (IANS) Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba that he will seek to build consensus across party lines as his minority government looks for opposition support to achieve policy goals after recent lower house election defeat.

Ishiba delivered his first policy speech in parliament since his ruling coalition lost its majority in the House of Representatives in the October 27 general election, as a 24-day extraordinary session began on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I take the outcome of the recent election as a reprimand from the people of Japan over the issue of political funds and our stance on reforms," Ishiba said, referring to the dismal election outcome.

"Based on the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito party, I will carefully listen to the views of other parties and build consensus as broadly as possible so we can humbly and sincerely make sure that the security and safety of the people are protected," he said.

The government is currently seeking approval of a supplementary budget worth around 13.9 trillion yen (about $92 billion) to fund a new economic package aimed at alleviating inflation-driven financial pressures on households.

As the ruling coalition must secure support from opposition parties to pass budgets and bills now that it is without majority control of the 465-member powerful lower house, Ishiba vowed to realise an opposition proposal to raise the income threshold for tax payments.

The ruling coalition has been warming to the Democratic Party for the People after the small opposition party saw its influence surge following the election, with its leader promising to boost people's incomes by raising the nontaxable income level.

"We will raise the so-called 1.03 million yen threshold when we implement tax reforms" for the next fiscal year, Ishiba said, as he stressed the need for households to feel that pay hikes are outpacing inflation.

--IANS

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