Rishi Sunak has said inflation is expected to hit 4 per cent in the year ahead, as he delivers his Budget speech. The Office for Budget Responsibility made the forecast at the same time that GDP will return to its pre-coronavirus level at the turn of the year, Mr Sunak said. Meanwhile, growth this year was revised up from 4 to 6.5 per cent.
The chancellor has also slashed duty on UK domestic flights, cancelled a fuel duty hike, and made sweeping changes to alcohol duty. Climate campaigners had previously urged Mr Sunak to put the environment at the heart of his Budget with the Cop26 summit just days away, but are likely to have been disappointed by the speech.
In her response, Labour’s Rachel Reeves accused the chancellor of living in a “parallel world” and failing to tackle the climate crisis. She said: “With no mention of climate in his conference speech, and the most passing of references today, we are burdened with a chancellor unwilling to meet the scale of the challenges we face.”
John Rentoul: What Rishi Sunak said in his Budget speech – and what he really meant
Did the chancellor’s pre-speech Twix-and-Sprite ritual stand him in good stead today? John Rentoul takes a look.
Sunak has broken manifesto pledge on UK shared prosperity fund, says lawyer
Rishi Sunak has broken a Conservative Party manifesto pledge on the UK prosperity fund, according to a former government lawyer.
Alexander Rose tweeted that the £2.6bn pledged across the four nations for 2020-25 was well below the £7.7bn given by the equivalent EU scheme between 2014 and 2020, despite a manifesto promise that Westminster’s version would match or better it.
Cost of living, or enjoying doing it, will continue to be a struggle for many, IFS suggests
Average incomes in 2025 are predicted to be more than a quarter of where they might have been if a trend bucked by the 2008 financial crash had continued, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
The IFS released a graph after Rishi Sunak’s Budget speech setting out the data.
At the same time, prices are rising and inflation is soaring, crunching the value of people’s pay packets.
Budget 2021 summary: Rishi Sunak’s key announcements at a glance
What has Rishi Sunak offered in his Autumn Budget and Spending Review? The Independent takes a look at the key announcements, writes Adam Forrest.
Priti Patel says she wants to force migrant boats back to France ‘to save lives’
Priti Patel has said she wants to force boats carrying asylum seekers back to France to “save lives”, writes Lizzie Dearden.
The home secretary insisted that planned operations by the Border Force in the English Channel would not risk lives and cause people to drown.
During an evidence session held by the Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee, she said there had been “extensive work” on legal and practical issues around push-backs.
Northern Powerhouse Partnership says Sunak’s ‘levelling-up’ fund isn’t enough
Rishi Sunak’s “levelling-up” funding for the north of England is not sufficient to bridge the regional divide with the south, according to the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
Even though the cash amounts to some £500m, “each bid is only large enough in scale to address specific local challenges”, the body said.
It added: “The wider solution is to devolve more of central budgets to towns and cities with metro mayors, allowing them to adapt spending to their individual needs.”
However, the partnership praised the fund for building on “existing well-regarded regeneration plans”.
People crossing Channel ‘not genuine asylum seekers’ and just want to stay in hotels, Priti Patel says
Priti Patel has been accused of “peddling dangerous myths” after claiming that people crossing the Channel are not genuine asylum seekers but are making the perilous journey because they want to live in UK hotels, writes May Bulman.
Speaking to MPs on Wednesday, the home secretary said that single men arriving via small boats were “economic migrants” and that the Home Office’s use of hotels as asylum accommodation had acted as a “pull factor” for people to enter Britain via unauthorised means.
Miliband unimpressed by lack of focus on climate by Sunak
Ed Miliband has hit out at Rishi Sunak’s Budget speech for being light on climate action, echoing his colleague Rachel Reeves and eco-campaigners.
Sunak announces one-year 50 per-cent cut in business rates
Chancellor’s spending pledges described as ‘sticking plaster’ on wounds formed over a decade of cutbacks
Rishi Sunak’s spending promises are welcome but are merely “sticking plasters on a state that has been left creaking by a decade of cuts”, according to a left-wing think-tank.
The Fabian Society called the Budget “a necessary rescue package” even though it sounded generous.
Luke Raikes, the group’s research director, said in a statement: “The chancellor set the country up for a return to George Osborne’s short-termism [with his new fiscal charter].
“Any government must ensure prudent investment and get value for taxpayers’ money. But these rules could see counterproductive public spending decisions and lead to a deepening of the very problems the chancellor is now trying desperately to repair. The chancellor risks knowing the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.
“The chancellor announced a long list of ‘levelling up’ projects across the country, which may sound like good news, but we’ve heard this all before. Two years into this government and the list of broken promises is already racking up – and on top of the promises made by his Conservative predecessors.
“People have become sadly used to overblown promises from the dispatch box that never come good on the ground.”
