Jeremy Hunt is facing a day of reckoning after announcing the Budget on Wednesday. The Chancellor framed his statement as a tax-cutting package, but has faced considerable blowback for taxing by stealth. He was even dubbed the ‘fiscal drag queen’ on the Radio 4’s Today programme – watch out Ru Paul.
This was no election-winning Budget
There’s been a mixed response in today’s papers. The Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph both lead on the issue of national insurance and its possible demise: the Telegraph reports that Hunt confirmed last night that abolishing NI was ‘our ambition long term’, while the Mail quotes Treasury minister Bim Afolami: ‘We want to eliminate that double tax on work.’ It comes after Hunt repeated his Autumn Statement move and slashed national insurance by 2p – a cut that would save £900 a year for working people. The Times appears similarly ambivalent, reporting on the ‘scaled back’ Budget as giveaways ‘funded by increasing taxes in other areas’ – and pointing out that the Tories have been rather good at, er, stealing Labour’s ideas with the abolition of the non-dom tax and extension of the North Sea oil and gas windfall tax.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in