Category Archives: Budget

Jeremy Hunt says difficult decisions ahead after Truss ‘mistakes’

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New chancellor vows to be ‘completely honest with country’ amid rumours PM has only weeks left in role

The new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has spoken of “mistakes” made by the Liz Truss administration and predicted “difficult decisions ahead”.

Appearing on Sky News on Saturday, in his first interview since replacing Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday, the former health secretary signalled he would have a “clean slate” when it came to the budget, and vowed to be “completely honest with the country” amid rumours that Truss has only weeks left as prime minister.

Hunt, who was parachuted into No 11 in an attempt to restore order to Truss’s ailing government, also suggested that some taxes could rise, as he promised to bring stability to the UK in the wake of the disastrous mini-budget.

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Mini-budget 2022: pound crashes as chancellor cuts stamp duty and top rate of income tax – live

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Tax cuts to cost Treasury around £37bn in 2023-24, official figures reveal

There are no urgent questions in the morning, and so Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, will be delivering his statement soon after 9.30am.

The Commons starts sitting at 9.30am, but they always begin with prayers in private, and so Kwarteng will be up a few minutes later.

The last time they did it one third of the beneficiaries were people buying second homes or buy to let, so we are sceptical that this is the magic bullet to increase homeownership. What we really need to do is to build more houses and to help get people onto the property ladder by increasing the supply of housing.

When this has been done before, it has often fuelled an already hot market and many of the beneficiaries have been people buying a second or third home, rather than the first time buyers that we really want to help who are often trapped in private rented accommodation where they’re paying as much in rent every month as they would in a mortgage.

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Biggest interest rate rise for 25 years could spell showdown at the Bank

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This week’s decision could pit Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey against an expansionary PM and chancellor

A lightning strike from the Bank of England awaits. Having delayed its decision until after the period of national mourning for the death of the Queen, Threadneedle Street could this week launch the biggest rise in borrowing costs for at least 25 years.

Announcing its plans a day before Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget on Friday, the central bank is widely expected to use a fast and forceful rate increase to show its commitment to tackling soaring borrowing costs – despite the gathering storm clouds for the British economy.

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With Keir Starmer on holiday, Labour treads water on cost of living

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Analysis: Gordon Brown, Martin Lewis and Ed Davey are the voices being heard, as the opposition is left with the same policy as Sunak

Gordon Brown has thrown down the gauntlet with his plan to halt a winter energy crisis – but not just to the Tory leadership candidates. The call to revoke the energy price cap and consider nationalising energy firms will attract a lot of attention but fundamentally it is also a chance for Labour to choose to be radical. It is likely to compound calls from activists for the party to find a new sense of urgency.

In the middle of August, politicians can often afford to take long breaks away from Westminster to recharge – and sometimes get a valuable dose of perspective. But the extent to which politicians – including those in the Labour party – have gone missing this summer is particularly striking.

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Rishi Sunak tackled on LBC Radio by mother who cannot afford to heat home

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Chancellor faces warnings that he has not done enough to address biggest fall in living standards on record

Rishi Sunak has been tackled by a single mother who cannot afford to heat her home and has had to take on two extra jobs, as the chancellor faced warnings that he has not done enough to address the biggest fall in living standards on record.

He was challenged on LBC Radio by Hezel, a single mother, who said she had a good salary “on paper” but rising costs had put “an intense strain” on her ability to provide for her children.

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Treasury considers ways to ease cost of living in spring statement

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Reluctant to make big fiscal changes, chancellor Rishi Sunak considers tax adjustments and fuel duty cut

The Treasury has drawn up a range of options to help with the cost of living crisis – including a 1p cut to income tax, raising the national insurance threshold and a significant cut to fuel duty.

But government sources said Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, was still reluctant to make big fiscal changes.

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ECB keeps interest rates on hold, warns of ‘transitory’ higher inflation – business live

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Latest:

The global semiconductor shortage and ongoing disruption to supply chains continue to knock carmakers’ profits.

Volkswagen and Stellantis both suffered financial hits in the third quarter the year, as a result of the global shortage of computer chips, which has prevented the firms from producing as many vehicles as they had originally planned.

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Budget 2021: what’s really going on in the UK economy?

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Rishi Sunak will be looking at key indicators such as GDP growth, public debt levels and inflation as he draws up his autumn budget

Britain’s economic recovery from Covid is at growing risk from severe shortages of workers and materials, as well as mounting living costs for households, as Rishi Sunak prepares his budget and spending review.

Here are five key charts that will underpin the chancellor’s statement on Wednesday afternoon.

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Rishi Sunak will use budget to declare ‘age of optimism’

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Chancellor to strike upbeat tone despite cost-of-living crisis, with spending pledges worth billions

Rishi Sunak will use his budget to insist the UK is entering an economic “age of optimism” despite a looming cost-of-living crisis, after making a deluge of promises to spend billions more on health, transport and skills.

In an attempt to strike an upbeat tone during his second budget on Wednesday, the chancellor will say his aim is to create a “new economy post-Covid”.

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Labour accuses Sunak of ‘smoke and mirrors’ budget due to lack of new money

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Chancellor concedes only 20% of transport funding boost is new and other commitments in £26bn spending plans are recycled

Labour has accused Rishi Sunak of presiding over a “smoke and mirrors” budget after he conceded that just 20% of his biggest single spending commitment unveiled before the speech is made up of new money.

The Treasury has committed to almost £26bn of spending in a rush of announcements before Wednesday’s budget and spending review. It is expected to contain no tax cuts and the chancellor has sought to reassure anxious Tory MPs that he is a fiscal Thatcherite at heart.

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Budget 2021 live: Sunak to freeze income tax thresholds and raise corporation tax to pay for Covid recovery

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Latest updates: chancellor extends furlough, universal credit uplift and stamp duty holiday

Sunak turns to corporation tax.

Sunak says he will announce two measures now to address the borrowing.

The government’s response has been fair, he says.

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Budget 2021: key points at a glance

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Rishi Sunak is delivering his budget – here is rolling coverage of the main points, updated throughout the speech

The chancellor says he would do “whatever it takes” during the pandemic, and that he has done and will continue to do so. He says there has been acute damage to the economy, with more than 700,000 people losing their jobs, the economy shrinking by 10% – the largest fall in 300 years, and borrowing is highest it has been outside of wartime. “It’s going to take this country, and the whole world, a long time to recover from this extraordinary situation,” he says.

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Rishi Sunak to offer ‘help to grow’ training for SME managers

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Small businesses will receive help in Wednesday’s budget to boost tech and management skills

The bosses of small businesses are to be invited back to school to brush up on their management skills, under plans to be announced in the budget designed to help close Britain’s productivity gap with rival nations.

As part of the attempt to speed up the UK’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will unveil a “help to grow” scheme that will offer the leaders of up to 130,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the chance of MBA-style management training.

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Keir Starmer under pressure to back plans for corporation tax rise

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Labour leader has faced backlash after saying he would oppose any new tax on business in budget

Keir Starmer is under pressure to back future rises in corporation tax after a backlash when the Labour leader said he would oppose any new tax on business in next week’s budget.

Treasury officials are believed to be looking at increasing the tax on company profits from the current rate of 19% to up to 25% as the government tries to recoup some of the massive debts incurred during the pandemic, though the rise may be delayed until later in the parliament.

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Budget 2020: Sunak’s plans for current spending ‘nothing like as generous as they appear’, says IFS – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

These are from the Telegraph’s Gordon Rayner.

Sources in Scotland insist Sturgeon's announcement of ban on gatherings of 500+ from Monday is a "UK-wide" policy. This morning Westminster sources were steering away from crowd bans. Has Sturgeon jumped the gun on something Boris was going to announce next week?

(Sturgeon is not averse to stealing people's thunder to make it look as though she is the one doing all the leading)

The Scottish Green party has cancelled its spring conference, which was due to take place on Saturday 28 March, because of the coronavirus outbreak after the number of cases declared in Scotland jumped to 60 on Thursday.

Ross Greer MSP, a co-chair of the party’s executive, said:

Due to the ongoing coronavirus situation the Scottish Greens executive committee has today taken the decision to cancel our upcoming conference. The health and wellbeing of our members and the public is our primary concern and it is with that in mind that we have taken this decision.

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Budget 2020: read the small print on spending pledge, urges IFS

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Thinktank praises Covid-19 response but says ‘splurge’ relies on already announced plans

Rishi Sunak’s first budget is not as generous as it seems and will leave many Whitehall departments worse off than they were before the spending squeeze began in 2010, according to Britain’s foremost economics thinktank.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the chancellor made the budget sound more substantial than it was, while relying on previously announced spending plans.

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Budget 2020: UK to launch £800m ‘blue skies’ research agency

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Brainchild of Dominic Cummings will seek to return Britain to its ‘pioneering scientific roots’, says chancellor

The government will pump at least £800m into a new “blue skies” science research agency as part of a series of pro-business measures designed to boost Britain’s competitive edge.

The UK agency, the brainchild of Boris Johnson’s closest political adviser Dominic Cummings, will fund “high-risk, high reward science” and will be modelled on theAdvanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in the US.

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Budget 2020: Rishi Sunak turns on taps with £30bn splurge

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Chancellor announces £12bn to fight coronavirus and £18bn on ‘levelling up’ in reversal of Tory orthodoxy

Rishi Sunak ditched a decade of Conservative economic orthodoxy on Wednesday and claimed the Tories were now “the party of public services,” as he turned on the spending taps with a £30bn package that leaves Britain on course to have a bigger state than under Tony Blair’s Labour governments.

On a day when the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 to be a global pandemic, the chancellor announced £12bn to buttress the economy against the immediate threat of recession and a further £18bn to deliver on Boris Johnson’s election pledge to “level up” the UK.

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Sunak to unveil budget aimed at helping firms deal with coronavirus

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Chancellor mulling measures including tax holidays and support when staff self-isolate

Rishi Sunak is poised to announce a package of emergency measures to support businesses hit by the knock-on effects of the coronavirus crisis in his first budget on Wednesday.

The chancellor is considering short-term tax holidays for affected businesses, and taxpayer support for small businesses whose employees self-isolate as the outbreak escalates, the Guardian understands.

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New chancellor Rishi Sunak sticks to 11 March budget date

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The 39-year-old has three weeks to sort out programme after Sajid Javid’s exit

The budget will go ahead on 11 March, the Treasury said on Tuesday, forcing the new chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to piece together a fresh tax and spending programme over the next three weeks.

A delay was expected after Sunak’s predecessor, Sajid Javid, abruptly quit his job after a demand by Boris Johnson that he sack his advisers and replace them with a team jointly managed with No 10.

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