GB News’s Economics and Business Editor Liam Halligan has assessed the Spring Budget, saying people may have some “relatively positive things” to say about the Tories.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled a tranche of financial measures including tax cuts which he says will offer “much needed help in challenging times”.
Lesser known measures were also pinpointed by Halligan, including Hunt signalling the end of national insurance and a £4.5bn fund to HMRC to chase tax avoiders.
Speaking on the HMRC clampdown, Halligan said “that’s a huge amount of money.”
Liam Halligan has offered his analysis of the Spring Budget
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He added: “It hasn’t attracted much attention, but it’s doing an awful lot of heavy lifting.”
Speaking about Hunt appearing to herald the end of national insurance, he said: “The double taxation of work is unfair.
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“I’ve been covering budgets for the thick end of 25 years.
“Why is it that tax on wealth is taxed once, but tax on work is taxed twice?”
The Chancellor sought to revitalise an ailing economy with a raft of measures most significantly including a 2p cut in national insurance for workers.
He said the cut, which will come in from April, will result in the lowest effective personal tax rate since 1975 and could result in getting the equivalent of 200,000 more people in work.
Jeremy Hunt unveiled his Spring Budget in the House of CommonsGB News
Liam Halligan speaks to Tom Harwood and Emily Carver on GB News
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He told MPs: “Because we are delivering the Prime Minister’s economic priorities, we can now help families not just with temporary cost-of- living support but with permanent cuts in taxation.
“We do this to give much needed help in challenging times. But also because Conservatives know lower tax means higher growth.
“And higher growth means more opportunity, more prosperity and more funding for our precious public services.”
Hunt said inflation was set to fall to below the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target “in a few months’ time”, easing the cost-of-living squeeze.
But he also set out a series of measures aimed at helping hard-pressed households, including:
– Changing the way child benefit is treated, with the individual earnings threshold at which it is taxed increasing from £50,000 to £60,000 from April.
– Freezing fuel duty and extending the “temporary” 5p cut for a further 12 months.
– A freeze in alcohol duty to February 1 2025.
– Extending the Household Support Fund with an extra £500 million.