6 minutes ago
Resolution Foundation: Taxes still rising to highest level since 1948
Torsten Bell, executive director of the Resolution Foundation think tank, emphasizes that personal taxes are still rising despite Wednesday's cuts to Social Security.
15 minutes ago
Starmer says Labor supports the NI cut but points out there is no income tax cut
Starmer says Labor supports the government's cuts to social security payments, but stresses that when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2022, he promised to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 19p in 2024.
“After being told all week that an income tax cut was imminent, today that promise is in tatters,” Starmer said.
15 minutes ago
Labour's Starmer: Budget is 'final, desperate act by a party that has failed'
Labor leader Keir Starmer begins his reaction to the budget, which he describes as the “final, desperate act of a failed party”.
He accuses Hunt of trying to paint a rosy picture of an economy in recession.
“The story of this Parliament is shockingly simple: a Conservative party stubbornly clinging to the failed ideas of the past, completely unable to generate the growth that working people need, and forced by that failure to demand of them: “Paying more and more for less and less,” he says.
He criticizes the government for rising food, rent and mortgage prices and describes the new tax cuts as “giving with one and taking even more with the other”.
15 minutes ago
OBR: “The medium-term economic prospects remain challenging”
The Office for Budget Responsibility's economic and financial forecast document was uploaded as Hunt resumed his seat.
The independent forecaster noted that inflation has fallen faster than expected in November, while markets are now expecting interest rates to fall more sharply.
“This strengthens near-term growth prospects and should enable a faster recovery in living standards from the record decline in the last financial year. However, the medium-term economic outlook remains challenging,” the OBR said.
“One of the biggest changes to our economic forecast is an increase in the size and growth of the UK population. But higher and increasing inactivity rates offset the impact on the overall size of the labor force, so our forecast for the level of GDP remains unchanged for five years, virtually unchanged from the fall, and the level of GDP per capita is slightly lower.
42 minutes ago
Sterling rose slightly against the dollar
At the end of the UK's spring budget announcements, the pound was trading slightly higher against the dollar.
Sterling was trading up 0.13% against the greenback at $1.2720 at 1:40 p.m. London time. Against the euro it fell by 0.13% to 1.16.
—Karen Gilchrist
38 minutes ago
The high income child benefit threshold will be raised to £60,000
The government will increase the threshold at which parents start paying high income child benefit from £50,000 to £60,000.
Hunt claims this will make almost half a million families better off by an average of almost £1,300 per household.
39 minutes ago
Hunt confirms 2p National Insurance cut from 10% to 8%
Hunt confirmed National Insurance, a tax on wage workers, will be cut by 2p from 10% to 8%, a further reduction from the previous cut in November from 12% to 10%.
“That means an extra £450 for the average worker,” he adds.
Self-employed NI will be reduced from 8% to 6%.
The OBR estimates that the NI cuts, combined with the autumn cuts, will mean the equivalent of 200,000 more people in work, resulting in a 0.4% increase in GDP and a 0.4% increase in GDP per capita leads, says Hunt.
“This means the average earner in the UK now has the lowest effective tax rate since 1975,” claims Hunt.
“Their effective taxes are now lower than in America, France, Germany or any other G7 country because conservatives believe it is paramount that work pays.”
He promises to continue cutting Social Security whenever the Treasury has the financial flexibility to do so.
46 minutes ago
Hunt: The government will abolish the “non-dom” tax status
Hunt announces the government will scrap tax status for non-residents, implementing a long-standing policy priority of the main opposition Labor party.
Non-dom status allows someone who lives in the UK but is not a permanent resident in the country to pay UK tax only on money earned in the country and avoid paying this tax on foreign income.
The non-dom regime will be replaced by a “fairer, residency-based system” from April 2025, says Hunt, leading to £2.7 billion in tax revenue by the end of the forecast period.
A similar status is available to people who emigrate to Great Britain in the first four years. However, after that they have to pay taxes in the country.
Hunt promises to use the additional tax revenue to “cut taxes for working families” rather than spending it on public services.
52 minutes ago
Hunt extends energy tax until 2029
“As the rise in energy prices caused by the Ukraine war is expected to last longer, the sector's unexpected gains will also last longer. “That’s why I will extend the Energy Gains Levy expiry by another year until 2029, raising £1.9 billion,” says Hunt.
53 minutes ago
Hunt announces a new tax on e-cigarettes, a one-off increase in tobacco tax and an increase in air passenger tax
Hunt announces a new tax on e-cigarettes and says there will be a one-off increase in tobacco tax as well as an increase in the tax on business class flights.
An hour ago
Hunt announces £3.4bn investment in NHS productivity
According to Hunt, the government will invest £3.4 billion to modernize IT systems in the National Health Service, enabling savings of £35 billion.
This means NHS spending has increased by 13% in real terms since the start of this Parliament in 2019, he says.
An hour ago
Take fall in national debt “with a grain of salt”: IFS
The independent economic think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies said forecasts showing a fall in government debt should be treated with “caution”.
IFS director Paul Johnson said in a social media post that the forecasts “will depend on the implementation of extremely tight spending plans that will entail cuts to many public services.”
During his spring budget, British Finance Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Office for Budget Responsibility's economic forecasts showed government debt would fall in the coming years. He added that borrowing for public services would reach its lowest level since 2001 by the end of the decade.
—Karen Gilchrist
An hour ago
Hunt says he will stick to his plan for a 1% increase in public spending
Hunt says he will stick with the government's plans to increase government spending by 1% in real terms, as set out in the autumn statement, but promises to “spend it better”.
He announces a new public sector productivity plan that “relaunches public service reform and changes the Treasury’s traditional approach to public spending.”
An hour ago
Hunt: The government will sell the remaining shares in NatWest Bank this summer
A sign outside a NatWest Group Plc bank branch in the City of London, Britain, on Tuesday July 25, 2023. Natwest will report its first half results on Friday July 28. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Jeremy Hunt says the government will privatize its remaining stake of around 31% in NatWest and sell it to private investors this summer at the earliest.
The government bought the stake in 2008 to save the Royal Bank of Scotland during the great financial crisis.
An hour ago
Hunt: AstraZeneca is investing £650 million in the UK
Hunt points out that AstraZeneca today announced a £650 million investment in the UK to expand its presence at the Cambridge Biomedical campus and a manufacturing center in Liverpool.
He says the government will also provide a further £45 million for medical research, including in the areas of cancer, dementia and epilepsy.
The AstraZeneca logo.
Photo only | Getty Images
An hour ago
Hunt will spend £200m to extend the recovery loan scheme
Hunt is promising £200m to extend the recovery loan scheme and increase the VAT registration threshold from £85,000 to £90,000, exempting many small businesses from paying VAT.
An hour ago
Hunt announces new British ISA to boost investment in UK stocks
Hunt claims the UK is on track to become the next Silicon Valley and the government will introduce a new “British ISA” allowing investments of up to £5,000 in British companies.
An ISA (Individual Savings Account) is a popular savings account in the UK that offers tax-free interest payments.
The government has already announced plans to require pension funds to disclose how much they invest in the UK compared to overseas markets.
An hour ago
Consider: The OBR says the UK government's borrowing will fall in the coming years
British Finance Secretary Jeremy Hunt said government debt would fall in the coming years as he outlined the Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR) economic forecasts.
Hunt also said the government was expected to meet its target of reducing public sector borrowing to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) three years ahead of schedule.
“There’s nothing compassionate about running out of money,” Hunt said.
—Karen Gilchrist
An hour ago
OBR forecasts growth of 0.8% this year
The OBR expects GDP to grow by 0.8% this year and 1.9% next year, higher than previously expected.
After that, growth increases to 2.2%, 1.8% and 1.7% in 2028/2029.
An hour ago
OBR: Debt will fall to 94% of GDP by 2028/29
According to Hunt, the OBR now forecasts that debt to GDP will fall in each year of the forecast horizon to 94% in 2028/29, having previously forecast a rise to over 100%.
Underlying debt, which excludes Bank of England debt, will be 91.7% in 2024/2025, 92.8% in 2025/206 and then 93.2% over the next two years before falling to 92% in 2028/29 .9% decreases.
“Our underlying debt is therefore on track to fall relative to GDP and meet our fiscal rule, and we continue to have the second lowest government debt in the G7,” says Hunt.
Public sector borrowing is expected to fall from 4.2% of GDP in 2023/4 to 1.2% in 2028/9.
“At the end of the forecast, borrowing will be at its lowest level of GDP since 2001,” adds Hunt.
Comments are closed.