Budget 2023 – latest news: Jeremy Hunt set to unveil 'Budget for ...

15 Mar 2023
Budget 2023

What to expect from Jeremy Hunt’s Spring Budget

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email

Jeremy Hunt is set to unveil key pension and childcare benefit changes in his highly anticipated Budget on Wednesday.

The chancellor is reportedly considering raising the £40,000 cap on tax-free annual pension contributions, as well as increasing the state pension age to 68.

Efforts to encourage the over-50s, the long-term sick and disabled, and benefits claimants back into the workplace are likely to form a key plank of Mr Hunt’s plans.

The Budget is aimed at silencing his critics from within the Conservative party. Mr Hunt is under pressure from supporters of ousted prime minister Liz Truss, who backed her focus on growth to revive the economy.

The Budget comes in the wake of the autumn statement last November, which saw the chancellor hike taxes as he and Rishi Sunak sought to restore UK financial credibility after Liz Truss’ short-lived premiership.

This time, the chancellor is expected to focus on measures that will get various cohorts back to work as part of a wider push to boost growth.

It follows the release of new figures from the Office for National Statistics which show no change in Britain’s unemployment in the three months to January.

1678854637
Jeremy Hunt bids to head off critics with ‘Budget for growth’

Jeremy Hunt is to unveil a “Budget for growth” designed to provide for the health service, pupils and pensioners as he seeks to silence critics in his own party.

The chancellor will say his measures go beyond helping Britain emerge from its brush with recession.

Instead, he will promise “long-term, sustainable, healthy growth that pays for our NHS and schools, finds good jobs for young people, provides a safety net for older people – all whilst making our country one of the most prosperous in the world”.

Kate Devlin has more.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar15 March 2023 04:30

1678852920
What will happen to taxes in the Budget?

Conservative MPs have been pushing for tax cuts – despite Jeremy Hunt so far appearing to be resistant to those calls, particularly on the issue of the planned corporation tax rise.

The business tax is due to go up from 19 to 25 per cent in April, under plans agreed during Boris Johnson’s premiership and Rishi Sunak’s tenure as chancellor.

All eyes will be on the chancellor to see if he offers any tax relief initiatives for businesses when he stands up in the Commons on Wednesday. He has already made a pre-speech announcement reflecting his desire to shock the economy into growth.

Officials said the scheme – backed by £80m of investment over five years in each of the new high-growth zones – is designed to accelerate research and development in the UK’s “most budding industries”.

Andy Gregory15 March 2023 04:02

1678851628
What we know and what has been rumoured to be in the Budget

The chancellor will unveil his Budget today as the country battles a cost-of-living crisis and a stalling economy.

Jeremy Hunt’s fiscal package comes in the wake of the autumn statement last November, which saw the chancellor hike taxes as he and prime minister Rishi Sunak sought to restore UK financial credibility after Liz Truss’s short-lived premiership.

With the UK narrowly avoiding a recession since and the latest economic figures giving reason for optimism, the chancellor is expected to focus his Budget on growth measures as he seeks to reignite the economy and encourage people back to the workforce after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here is what has been briefed already and what we can likely expect in Mr Hunt’s first Budget since being appointed by Ms Truss last year.

Patrick Daly reports.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar15 March 2023 03:40

1678849380
Hunt to promise ‘sustainable, healthy growth’ in Budget

Jeremy Hunt will pledge to tackle labour shortages and get people back to work when he delivers his Budget.

The chancellor is also expected to reference the “difficult decisions” taken last November to stabilise the markets, following the short-lived premiership of Liz Truss, as he outlines a plan he hopes can deliver “sustainable” growth.

“Today, we deliver the next part of our plan: a Budget for growth,” he is expected to say. “Not just growth from emerging out of a downturn.

“But long term, sustainable, healthy growth that pays for our NHS and schools, finds good jobs for young people, provides a safety net for older people ... all whilst making our country one of the most prosperous in the world.”

Mr Hunt will promise a growth plan that will remove “the obstacles that stop businesses investing” while also “tackling the labour shortages that stop them recruiting” and “breaking down the barriers that stop people working”.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt

(Victoria Jones/PA Wire)

Andy Gregory15 March 2023 03:03

1678845900
Jeremy Hunt mulling raising cap on tax-free annual pensions contributions

Jeremy Hunt is known to be considering raising the £40,000 cap on tax-free annual pensions contributions – and could reportedly hike it to £60,000.

Mr Hunt’s team has also looked at a possible increase in the lifetime allowance (LTA) on pension savings, another tweak Mr Hunt’s team has looked at. The tax-free lifetime amount could rise from £1.07m to as much as £1.8m, according to reports.

Meanwhile, other reports suggest that the UK state pension age could rise to 68 sooner than expected.

Andy Gregory15 March 2023 02:05

1678842180
What cost of living measures are expected in the Budget?

Jeremy Hunt is expected to cancel the planned £500 hike in the government’s ceiling for energy bill support which was due to come into force next month.

For the average household that means bills will stay at around £2,500, instead of going up to £3,000 as was previously announced.

On fuel duty, some Tory backbenchers have urged the chancellor to act to support motorists facing a 12p-per-litre hike in fuel duty in March. A 23 per cent increase in the duty is pencilled in for this month, but chancellors have repeatedly frozen the levy in the past. Mr Hunt has so far not said what he will do.

Action is expected on prepayment meters with the Chancellor set to end the so-called “prepayment premium” from July – which the Treasury expects will save more than four million households £45 a year on their energy bills.

Struggling public swimming pools will also be handed assistance to cope with their rising energy bills, with a £63m one-off pot to be created. Most of the money will be earmarked for leisure centres to invest in moving towards renewable energy forms.

Patrick Daly15 March 2023 01:03

1678838371
Hunt told he is running economy like ‘Jeremy from accounts’

Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show, the chancellor was told that he was running the economy “like Jeremy from accounts”.

He replied that “Jeremy the chancellor will be responsible with public finances, I make absolutely no apology for that”, adding: “What you will also see on Wednesday is that we have a plan to tackle the biggest problems we face as a country.”

Sophy Ridge tells Jeremy Hunt he is running economy like 'Jeremy from accounts'

Andy Gregory14 March 2023 23:59

1678834831
Hunt vows to ‘go further to bear down on inflation'

Jeremy Hunt earlier vowed to ”go further to bear down on inflation” in Wednesday’s Budget.

“The jobs market remains strong, but inflation remains too high,” the chancellor said this morning. “To help people's wages go further, we need to stick to our plan to halve inflation this year.

“Tomorrow at the Budget, I will set out how we will go further to bear down on inflation, reduce debt and grow the economy, including by helping more people back into work.”

Andy Gregory14 March 2023 23:00

1678831291
Job vacancies fall for eighth month in a row amid economic ‘uncertainty’, as Hunt prepares ‘back-to-work’ Budget

Vacancies across the UK have fallen for the eighth month in a row as firms hold back on hiring amid woes in the wider economy, official figures have shown as Jeremy Hunt prepares to unveil his “back-to-work” Budget.

The Office for National Statistics revealed a 51,000 drop in the number of job vacancies to 1.12 million in the three months to February, while the redundancy rate edged higher, which it said “reflects uncertainty across industries, as survey respondents continue to cite economic pressures as a factor in holding back on recruitment”.

Britain’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7 per cent in the three months to January, but the drop in vacancies signalled cracks in the jobs market as economic uncertainty weighs on companies.

The figures also showed there were 220,000 days lost to strike action in January, down from 822,000 in December, with schools the hardest hit.

Andy Gregory14 March 2023 22:01

1678827811
Chancellor urged to use Budget to boost public sector pay in face of ‘mass exodus’

Jeremy Hunt has been urged to invest in public sector pay in the Budget, as new research by the Trades Congress Union (TUC) suggested nearly two in five workers are actively considering leave their profession – with a third citing low pay as a reason.

One in six public sector workers said they were skipping meals and one in 14 is using a food bank, according to the TUC – which warned that public services are facing a “mass exodus” of workers unless the current wave of pay disputes is resolved.

Unison union assistant general secretary Jon Richards said: “Decent public services are the bedrock of any society but they can’t exist without people to run them. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to fathom that pay is key to keeping and attracting a motivated workforce.

“The government must invest in pay in the Budget so schools, hospitals, town halls and care homes can better compete with wages in the private sector. That would help boost staffing levels for everyone’s benefit.”

Andy Gregory14 March 2023 21:03

Read more
Similar news
This week's most popular news