Jeremy Hunt cut national insurance for 27 million workers as he delivered an autumn statement that he claimed would also attract £20bn more business investment a year in the next decade and bring tens of thousands more people into work.
The chancellor promised 110 measures to unleash growth in the private sector, as he revealed that the Office for Budget Responsibility had significantly downgraded its growth forecasts, with the economy now expected to grow just 0.6 per cent this year and 0.7 per cent in 2024.
Mr Hunt raised the National Living Wage to £11.44 an hour, and will cut national insurance by 2 per cent from January – saving those earning £35,000 more than £450 a year.
Mr Hunt also kept the pensions triple lock in place, vowed to increase in-work benefits by 6.7 per cent, and introduced a freeze on alcohol duty. He will also permanently allow firms to offset any investments, in a tax break costing £11bn a year.
The chancellor also announced a crackdown on benefits for people with mobility or mental health struggles unless they work from home.
But Labour said growth had hit a dead end under the Conservatives.
Hunt missed chance to drive nature renewal, says RSPB
The RSPB has accused Jeremy Hunt of missing an opportunity.
Jeff Knott, director of policy and advocacy at the bird and wildlife charity, said: “Nature is in crisis, yet the UK government is silent. With barely a word in the Autumn Statement about actions to tackle the nature and climate emergency, it is hard to see how we can get nature’s recovery on track in time for 2030.
“The natural world underpins everything in our lives, including the economy, and there is strong evidence to show that investing in nature improves our long-term economic performance.
“This was a chance for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to prove that the UK government is committed to promises made to protect and restore 30% of our land and sea by 2030.
“There was rightly a push for better infrastructure and housing, but there was nothing about how these can help drive nature’s renewal.”
Sunak decision ‘may delay switch to electric vehicles’
Buried in the OBR forecasts is a warning that Rishi Sunak’s decision to delay a ban on new petrol and diesel car sales “may result in some consumers delaying a switch to EVs”.
The spending watchdog said another law, the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, is now the main driver of people transitioning to electric cars.
The mandate sets a minimum share of cars and vans sold by each manufacturer to be zero emission.
As a result of the changes, and slower than expected take-up of electric vehicles so far, the OBR has significantly lowered its forecast for the speed of the transition away from petrol and diesel cars.
Taxes still set to hit post-war high – OBR
The tax burden is still on course to hit a post-war high, the Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed.
Despite Jeremy Hunt’s claiming to have delivered the biggest tax cut since the 1980s, the official forecaster said the tax burden would rise every year to a post-war high by 2028-29.
The OBR said: “Tax changes in this autumn statement reduce the tax burden by 0.7 per cent of GDP but it still rises every year to a post-war high of 37.7 per cent of GDP by 2028-29.
The news will enrage right-wing Tory MPs, who have piled pressure on Mr Hunt over rising taxes.
‘Cynical attack’ on disability benefits will be devastating, say charities
A coalition of disability charities says the government is attacking those on disability benefits by introducing harsh measures designed to encourage them back to work.
Anastasia Berry, of the consortium and MS Society, said the plans would “deprive people with severe health problems of £390 a month and push more disabled people into poverty in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis”.
She added: “The government claims a radical shift towards home-working since the pandemic can justify removing support for those with mobility issues. But only one in ten jobs advertised this year have offered this option.”
Hunt cheeky to claim biggest business tax cut, says IFS
Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said it was a “tiny bit cheeky” of Jeremy Hunt to claim he had delivered “the biggest business tax cuts in modern British history”.
The respected economist pointed out that today’s measures were “in part designed explicitly to offset a much bigger (in long term) corporation tax increase”.
Reeves: Has inheritance tax cut been delayed or abandoned?
Rachel Reeves has urged Jeremy Hunt to confirm whether a widely briefed inheritance tax cut has been delayed or abandoned.
The shadow chancellor said Mr Hunt had spent two weeks “marching Tory MPs up a hill only to march them down again on inheritance tax”.
It was reported that the chancellor was considering halving the rate but that an announcement has now been delayed until the spring Budget.
“So can the chancellor tell the house today: is cutting inheritance tax a decision delayed or a decision abandoned?” Ms Reeves asked.
Mr Hunt did not speak for a second time after delivering his Budget.
House prices to fall 4.7% next year, say OBR experts
House prices are expected to grow marginally by 0.9% this year, but then drop by 4.7% next year, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Hunt claims he has delivered biggest tax cut since 1980s
Jeremy Hunt claimed to have delivered the biggest tax cut since the 1980s, as he boasted that the British economy had “turned a corned” under his watch.
Mr Hunt told the Commons – as Rishi Sunak grinned behind him – “I’ve today delivered the biggest business tax cuts in modern British history.”
He finished his autumn statement by saying: “We are delivering the biggest business tax cut in modern British history, the largest ever cut to employee and self-employed National Insurance and the biggest package of tax cuts to be implemented since the 1980s.”
Tory mismanagement has left working families exposed, claim Labour
Working families have been “skating on thin ice for too long”, Labour said.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “The Chancellor and the Prime Minister say that the cost of living crisis is dealt with. Now everything might look a little bit better 10,000ft up in your helicopter, but down here on planet Earth people are approaching Christmas and the year ahead with worry and trepidation.
“The cost-of-living crisis has hit us harder because Tory mismanagement has left us so exposed, 11 million UK households don’t have enough savings to cover three weeks of living expenses if they needed it.
“Working families have been skating on thin ice for too long and as their resilience has been eroded, so has our national economy’s.”
Reeves: ‘Even Saatchi and Saatchi are saying the Tories are not working’
Rachel Reeves has said the “ravens are leaving the tower” when Saatchi and Saatchi “are saying the Tories are not working.”
The shadow chancellor said “Britain can not afford another five years of Conservatives” as she attacked the government’s record on the economy.
“Mr Speaker, the ravens are leaving the tower when even Saatchi and Saatchi are saying the Tories are not working,” she told MPs.
Earlier this month The Independent reported that Saatchi and Saatchi, the ad agency behind Margaret Thatcher’s “Labour isn’t working” attack, was predicting a win at the next election for Keir Starmer’s party.
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