Hunt: ‘Silly’ to think of tax cuts in terms of election timing as he hints at more to come
Jeremy Hunt has this morning said it is “silly” to think about the autumn statement tax cuts as a pre-election giveaway. The chancellor, who delivered his autumn statement to the House of Commons yesterday, told Sky News: “We haven’t chosen the most populist tax cuts. I think it’s silly to think about this in terms […]
Hunt’s tricky autumn statement puts the Conservative Party on an election footing
What is an autumn statement? Ostensibly, it is an opportunity to assess the latest independent forecasts produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), and for the chancellor of the day to announce changes to his tax and spending plans. But is also a day of political theatre, bookended by weeks of speculation and months […]
Jeremy Hunt says autumn statement shows country has ‘turned a corner’ — as it happened
Jeremy Hunt has today announced a series of measures to boost Britain’s economy in his second autumn statement. He claimed the economy is “back on track” in the statement, and that the country has “turned a corner”. He vowed to “reject big government, high spending and high tax because we know that leads to less […]
The rise of ‘alternative budgets’ shows Rishi Sunak is trapped
There is a new phenomenon taking the SW1 scene by storm: the “alternative budget” — a fiscal plan produced by some dispossessed faction and designed, at once, to focus minds on a chosen subject in government and to posture and position as antagonists press ahead with their own proposals. The “alternative budget” trail was blazed, […]
Citizens told they have ‘duty’ to work as government mulls benefits system changes
Tomorrow’s autumn statement is set to include measures to get hundreds of thousands of people with mobility and mental health problems into work as part of a bid to reduce benefits expenditure. Under plans to be announced in the autumn statement, to be revealed on Wednesday, these individuals face having their benefits reduced by £4,680 […]
Jeremy Hunt won’t ‘sacrifice the principles of sound money’ for tax cuts in Autumn statement
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will not “sacrifice the principles of sound money” amid calls for tax cuts, when he delivers the Autumn Statement on Wednesday. Treasury minister Gareth Davies said this morning that while “ideally” the government would bring the tax burden down overall, it will not do so “at the expense of sound money”. The […]
Week-in-Review: Hunt makes austerity Labour’s burden to bear
“Party like it’s 2010”. That’s how shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves reacted to Jeremy Hunt’s new fiscal proposals announced on Thursday. It was a stinging criticism. Amounting to a fiscal rejig worth £55 billion, Reeves is right in her assessment: the Autumn Statement is the most austere economic plan announced since George Osborne’s “emergency budget”. It […]
Labour government ‘won’t be able to do everything we want’, says Reeves
Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow chancellor, has said that a Labour government would not be “able to do everything we want” when taking power because of the economic “mess” caused by the Conservatives. Speaking to BBC Breakfast following Thursday’s autumn statement, Ms Reeves said: “We don’t know the situation that we are going to inherit and […]
Statement offers ‘a balanced plan for stability, growth and public services’, says Hunt
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has delivered the autumn statement, announcing a range of tax rises and spending cuts. The headline proposals are: The threshold for when the highest earners start paying the top rate of income tax will be brought down from £150,000 to £125,140 The household annual energy bill cap will rise to £3,000 […]
Hunt promises to weather economic ‘storm’ with tax rises and spending cuts
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver the autumn statement this morning at 11.30am. He is expected to introduce a variety of tax rises and spending cuts designed to weather an economic “storm”. Hunt will finish speaking in the commons at around 12.30pm at which point his fiscal plans (including the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts) will […]
