Loading Guild Resources
Loading Guild Resources
Loading Guild Resources
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has given away some tax cuts in what is expected to be the last Budget before a General Election later in the year.
In an hour-long speech to MPs, his forecasts and policy announcements were wrapped in barbed political polemic rubbishing Labour for having no economic plan if they were to win power.
He particularly targeted Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader on the front bench, for her recent, much-publicised misunderstanding of capital gains tax rules.
Despite constant interruptions from opposition MPs, Hunt unpacked his Budget for Long Term Growth before Parliament.
Hunt says his Budget delivers lower taxes, more investment and better public services while increasing growth and meeting his self-imposed fiscal rules.
The rules say he must keep debt as a percentage of GDP below the debt figure in the final year of a five-year forecast from the Office of Budget Responsibility, and borrowing must be at most 3 per cent of GDP over five years.
The Chancellor told the house that the economy was turning a corner, with inflation expected to fall to target next quarter, wages consistently rising faster than prices, and better growth than European rivals France, Germany, and Italy.
The measures Hunt announced included:
The Chancellor finished his speech with a rallying cry to voters: “Dynamism in an economy doesn’t come from ministers in Whitehall. It comes from the grit and determination of people who take risks, work hard and innovate.
“Not government policies but people power. It is to unleash that people power that we have today put this country back on the path to lower taxes.”
“Britain in recession. The national credit card – maxed out. Despite the measures today, it has been Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer responded, arguing that the Tories had run out of ideas after 14 years in power and calling for a change of government.
“There we have it. The last desperate act of a party that has failed,” he said.
the highest tax burden for 70 years. The first Parliament since records began to see living standards fall.”