Category Archives: Budget

Badenoch says Tories would prioritise cutting taxes for businesses over individuals – UK politics live

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Conservative leader also called for benefit spending to be cut to fund rise in defence budget

Badenoch says Britain needs tax cuts.

We need to get out of the way of job creators who make our country richer. We need to encourage risk taking, wealth creation, enterprise.

Britain’s tax burden has never been higher. You are taxed on the heating in your home. You’re taxed at the petrol pump filling up your car. You’re taxed when you insure that car. You’re taxed if you take the family away on holiday. You’re taxed if you stay in the UK thanks to Andy Burnham’s tourist tax. You’re taxed to buy a home, taxed to live in a home, taxed to pass on your home. This is clearly not working. Britain does not feel better off.

Andy Burnham wrote in The Times yesterday about the moral outrage of the current benefit system. But as far as I could work out, his answer is to spend even more on benefits.

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‘If voters aren’t better off by the next election, we’re screwed’: Labour insiders voice fears over budget

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Some say party risks ‘looking twee’ by focusing on small fixes amid growing nervousness that budget lacks ambition

In the days since Labour’s annual conference, party insiders have been sharing a word cloud produced by the pollsters More in Common, which shows the phrases voters most associate with Andy Burnham.

Such polling is rarely flattering for politicians, and the prime minister’s version had its fair share of negatives. But one of the most prominent words in the cloud – and the one that has caught the imagination of Labour strategists – was “trying”.

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Tory tax break for banks has cost UK public purse £6bn, says TUC

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Exclusive: Chancellor urged to reverse Rishi Sunak’s tax surcharge cuts to claw back billions in lost revenue

Tax cuts for big banks have deprived the UK government of £6bn in revenues, according to campaigners, who are calling on the chancellor, John Healey, to increase taxes and force lenders to pay their “fair share” in the budget.

Calculations by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which represents unions with more than 5.3 million members across England and Wales, shows that the public purse is billions of pounds worse off as a result of tax cuts introduced under the Tory chancellor Rishi Sunak in 2023.

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‘Don’t squander it’: Can Labour hang on to the Burnham bounce?

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Conference delegates grateful ousting Starmer has paid off, but relief tempered by fiscal headwinds ahead

Even Andy Burnham’s closest allies accept that deposing Keir Starmer to install their man as leader was a huge political gamble. But if the mood at the Labour party conference in Liverpool is anything to go by, it is one that – so far – has paid off.

The contrast with last year, when Starmer retained his grip on the party and Burnham slunk away from Liverpool early, could not be more stark. Their relief at their turn of fortune is tempered only by the fiscal headwinds ahead.

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‘I can deliver’: Burnham pledges radical change on eve of Labour conference

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Exclusive: UK prime minister says delivering fiscal stability would be ‘crucial’ to be able to fix bigger problems

Andy Burnham has said he can deliver on his promise of radical change for the country despite severe economic headwinds, telling the Guardian: “There’s always things you can do; it’s just whether you’re prepared to do them.”

The prime minister acknowledged public finances were “challenging” ahead of next month’s budget but said delivering fiscal stability would be “crucial”, because only then would the government be able to focus on fixing bigger problems.

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Healey appoints Labour manifesto writer, fuelling election speculation

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Exclusive: Economist Ravinder Athwal who worked in Keir Starmer’s team is poached from Flint Global

Ravinder Athwal, the economist who wrote Labour’s 2024 manifesto, is taking on a senior role as an adviser to John Healey, in a move likely to fuel speculation about an early general election.

The chancellor is keen to beef up his team before the critical budget on 28 October, as the economy is buffeted by high oil prices and rising government borrowing costs.

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Critics of UK government’s economic forecaster are ‘shooting the messenger’, say MPs

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Treasury committee rejects calls for fundamental reform of independent watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility

Attacks on the government’s independent economic forecaster from left and right of the political spectrum are akin to “shooting the messenger”, according to an influential group of MPs.

The Treasury committee rejected “siren calls to fundamentally reform” the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and said it should not be blamed when policymakers had to make tough decisions because of tight public finances.

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Thinktank linked to Reform UK calls for abolition of state pension

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‘Radical’ report likely to influence party’s platform also proposes abolishing inheritance and capital gains taxes

A thinktank linked to Reform UK has called for the abolition of the state pension and £75bn worth of sweeping tax cuts in a “radical” report likely to influence the party’s platform for the next election.

The Centre for a Better Britain’s (CFABB) report – which also calls for weaker rules for UK banks and Trump-style investment accounts offering £1,000 to newborns – will be formally launched at a private event with City executives on Wednesday.

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UK borrows £18bn in August, putting pressure on Healey before budget

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Some economists say it is now ‘inevitable’ that chancellor will need to raise taxes in the budget next month

The UK government borrowed a higher-than-expected £18.3bn last month, increasing the pressure on John Healey as he attempts to calm jittery bond markets before next month’s budget.

Some economists said it was “inevitable” that the chancellor would need to raise taxes on 28 October if he is to meet demands for extra spending on defence without further borrowing investors on international money markets.

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UK chancellor urged to remove £100k childcare ‘cliff edge’ prompting parents to cut work hours

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Critics say threshold pushes higher-paid staff to cut back on work and often mothers to stop working to avoid losing entitlement

John Healey has been urged to fix the £100,000 childcare “cliff edge”, that means some higher-paid employees cut back on work to avoid losing their entitlement.

Since the latest expansion of taxpayer-funded childcare in 2024, families with young children in which both parents earn less than £100,000 a year can be entitled to 30 hours a week of care - or none at all, if one of them cross that threshold.

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UK reports unexpected deficit of £1.8bn as John Healey prepares for first budget

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July data shows total public debt was £2.98tn, or 94% of GDP – up £96bn on a year earlier

The UK government ran a larger than expected £1.8bn deficit in July, underlining the challenges facing the chancellor, John Healey, as he draws up his first budget.

City economists had expected a shortfall of zero for July, a month when Treasury receipts tend to be swollen by self-assessment income tax payments.

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Healey urged to be bold on borrowing in first test of Burnham’s growth pledge

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Some want the chancellor to exploit newly flexible fiscal rules – others want a more creative approach, such as borrowing from markets

With just 12 weeks to go until his first budget, new chancellor John Healey is seeking ways to ramp up public investment, without busting the Treasury’s fiscal rules – and some economists are urging him to be bold.

As he settles into No 11 Downing Street, the former defence secretary’s most immediate challenges concern day-to-day government spending.

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Healey urged to be bold on borrowing in first test of Burnham’s growth pledge

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Some want the chancellor to exploit newly flexible fiscal rules – others want a more creative approach, such as borrowing from markets

With just 12 weeks to go until his first budget, new chancellor John Healey is seeking ways to ramp up public investment, without busting the Treasury’s fiscal rules – and some economists are urging him to be bold.

As he settles into No 11 Downing Street, the former defence secretary’s most immediate challenges concern day-to-day government spending.

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Two-thirds of UK hospitality businesses plan to cut jobs and one in seven will close, survey finds

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Sector cites ‘billions of pounds in additional costs’ from new business rates and increase in minimum wage thresholds

Two-thirds of hospitality businesses are planning to cut jobs as a result of “suffocating” costs imposed by government, as new business rates and higher wage bills come into force.

Many pubs, restaurants and hotel companies will see their costs increase significantly from 1 April after Rachel Reeves’s changes to business rates and an increase in minimum wage thresholds announced at the chancellor’s November budget.

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UK house prices rise in February as chancellor avoids ‘negative speculation’

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Rachel Reeves’ upcoming spring forecast has not led to slowdown, as property tax rumours did in November

House prices in the UK increased in February as Rachel Reeves avoided a repeat of the pre-budget “negative speculation” that depressed the market, as she prepares to present the spring forecast on Tuesday.

The average price of a home rose to £273,176 last month, up by 0.3% from the month before, Nationwide said. It matched January’s monthly increase, and was above analysts’ forecasts of a 0.2% gain. The annual growth rate remained steady at 1%, the country’s biggest building society said.

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People deriving income solely from state pension won’t be taxed, says chancellor

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Clarification creates prospect of two-tier system for retirees solely on new state pension and those on private schemes

People who rely only on their state pension for their income will not have to pay tax on it, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said, creating the prospect of a two-tier system for those in retirement.

The new state pension is poised to rise to £241.30 a week next April, putting the annual income for someone receiving the standard payment at £12,547 – just below the personal tax allowance of £12,570 a year.

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‘Delays inevitable’: Starmer leadership safe until May elections, say Labour MPs

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While some call budget ‘tactical victory’, few MPs believe it is enough for Labour to beat Reform

Labour MPs have said they believe Keir Starmer’s leadership is safe until at least the May elections, after a budget that avoided any major damaging measures but which few MPs believe will revive the party’s fortunes.

More than a dozen previously loyal MPs told the Guardian they did not believe the budget would shift the fundamentals required for the party to beat Reform. “It only delays what is inevitable,” one minister said.

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Rachel Reeves targets UK’s wealthiest in £26bn tax-raising budget

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Chancellor axes two-child benefit cap and cuts energy bills paid for by mansion tax and freezing tax thresholds

Rachel Reeves targeted Britain’s wealthiest households with a £26bn tax-raising budget to fund scrapping the two-child benefit policy and cutting energy bills.

On a chaotic day that involved key details of her budget accidentally being released early by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the chancellor defended the measures, saying she was “asking everyone to make a contribution to repair the public finances”, but that she wanted the wealthiest to pay the most.

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Reeves’s plan to cut cash Isa limit could raise mortgage rates, say finance bosses

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Building societies fear consumers will be put off from saving if chancellor’s budget announces a 40% reduction

Rachel Reeves’s plan to slash the annual cash Isa limit by 40% could lead to higher mortgage rates and deter consumers from saving, finance bosses have said.

The chancellor is expected to cut the maximum amount people can put into tax-efficient cash individual savings accounts from £20,000 a year to £12,000 in Wednesday’s budget.

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Rachel Reeves promises to ‘grip the cost of living’ in autumn budget

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Chancellor admits economy ‘feels stuck’ for many as she signals intention to freeze income tax thresholds

Rachel Reeves has promised to “grip the cost of living” in the budget as she prepares to scrap the two-child welfare limit and freeze rail fares, while putting forward a multibillion-pound tax-raising package.

The chancellor is preparing to give her second budget on Wednesday after weeks of uncertainty about the scale of the tax rises she will need to impose to plug a financial hole of about £20bn.

Freezing income tax thresholds for an extra two years to 2030, bringing more people into higher tax bands as wages rise.

Making salary sacrifice schemes less generous, including those for pension contributions.

Bringing in higher tax on the most expensive properties, including a surcharge on the highest-value houses.

A pay-per-mile scheme on electric cars to help fill the tax gap from petrol duty as more people opt for green vehicles.

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