The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, announced a 2p cut to National Insurance in the budget on Wednesday, meaning contributions will be lower for 27 million workers. This announcement has been declared as “drawing up battle lines for the election” as outlined in the Metro. Those earning £35,000 a year are set to save an additional £450 annually. Hunt has also announced his desire to abolish National Insurance altogether, leading it to be considered the “centrepiece of the Conservative re-election bid” by The Daily Telegraph.
“Lower taxes are better for growth” claimed Hunt, declaring his desire to abolish National Insurance. However, this would cost approximately £50bn, leading to scepticism from policy experts who are unsure whether this would happen, according to The Daily Telegraph. The chancellor announced the tax cuts with a declaration of Britain’s economy “turning a corner” and the intention to “put money back in people’s pockets”, as reported by The Times. The Budget was significantly scaled back after the fiscal outlook deteriorated with more than half of the giveaways in the Budget being funded by increasing taxes in other areas.
According to The Financial Times, one of the few surprise measures in the statement outlined that the threshold in which parents are charged for claiming child benefit would increase from £50,000 to £60,000. Though, Hunt has left the “door open to more tax cuts” and is under pressure to do more before the election as the Conservatives are trailing Labour by 20 points in the polls. The Daily Mail’s cartoon shows Hunt taking a magician’s hat off his head to reveal it is empty. This has led some Tories to be left asking where the “game-changing big rabbit” was, with the headline reading: “Will it be enough to see off Labour?”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer responded to the Budget by warning that the tax hikes included in it would leave households £870 worse off, insisting that “Britain deserves better”. The Daily Mirror described Hunt’s statement as a “stagnant Budget for a stagnant country by a stagnant government”. The Guardian reports that, despite the cut in National Insurance, taxes are at their highest level since 1948, which brings the “threat of a fresh squeeze on public spending to come after polling day”. Additionally, the lack of any real surprises in the budget “appeared to reduce significantly the prospect of a snap election in May”, says The Guardian.
The i has reported that Labour has said it won’t tax high earners in order to plug a £20bn black hole in Britain’s public spending if it wins power. Instead, they plan to resist any left-wing pressure for taxes on wealth, such as a mansion tax, with one Labour MP stating: “We’re going to have to find some policies that strike out a different pathway forward… on the economy, or we will end up being the midwives of austerity 2.0”. Finally, the Sun has reported that a pair of boxer shorts (purportedly worn by Prince Harry at a Las Vegas party) has been sold for $250,000 (£196,000) by ex-dominatrix Carrie Royale and bought by San Diego strip club boss Dino Palmiotto
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