Tax cut for workers in UK’s pre-election budget
#Tax cut for workers in #UK’s pre-election budget. It's a difficult time for the majority of #British households as the UK is officially in #recession. Will the new #budget be able to improve the #quality of life in the country and will it revive the government’s troubled political fortunes?
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00:00 The UK government is announcing its spring budget before a possible general election.
00:05 With the economy officially in recession, the Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt says growth will be stronger than expected this year.
00:12 But while inflation is easing, many households are still struggling with the cost of living.
00:17 Tax cuts have been in focus in the run-up to the announcement, but also how to pay for them.
00:22 Let's talk to our correspondent Yolo Abdavith who's in central London.
00:26 So Yolo, this could be the last budget before a general election.
00:30 How important is it for the ruling Conservative Party?
00:33 It's very important for any government in any country to be honest, because these are the spending and tax reviews
00:43 and what they propose to do for the short term, for the next six months or so.
00:48 It is important because the UK is officially in recession
00:52 and Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, the Finance Minister was very keen to project that things will get better.
01:00 That's why he tainted and coloured the choices that he'd made and the ruling Conservative Party are making
01:07 as they are still in government, because as you say, there may well be a general election later this year.
01:13 We don't know whether this is actually the last budget before an election
01:17 and you say maybe there'll be another statement, a finance statement in the autumn and a general election after that.
01:24 There has to be a UK election before the end of January 2025.
01:29 So it was interesting on the back of a recession, on the back of the lack of growth, national debt increasing
01:38 and a general feeling of uneasiness with the cost of living crisis
01:43 and how many people are assessing not just the last few years in the UK, but the last 14 years.
01:51 And that's what Jeremy Hunt had to contend with today.
01:54 That's why when he made some eye-catching announcements on tax cuts
01:59 with national insurance payments for every individual worker in the UK, reducing that again,
02:05 he was trying to show that actually if you trust in us, things will improve
02:10 and that's why he also took some of the opposition Labour Party policies
02:15 in terms of taxing people who are non-domiciliary here, that they work here, but obviously they have homes elsewhere,
02:23 they have tax affairs elsewhere, now they will be taxed after four years
02:28 and he also looked at other issues to do with productivity, to try and strengthen the economy.
02:33 So he was trying to please all sides of the House of Parliament behind me, but also of course to buy votes for the next general election.
02:42 Dynamism in an economy doesn't come from ministers in Whitehall,
02:47 it comes from the grit and determination of people who take risks, work hard and innovate,
02:54 not government policies, but people power.
02:57 It is to unleash people power that we today put this country back on the path to lower taxes.
03:05 So what does what we've heard today in this budget tell us about how the UK economy is doing after the pandemic and after Brexit?
03:14 It is, and you'll be very hard-pressed to hear anybody talking about Brexit from the two major parties actually.
03:24 They simply don't want to talk about it. There's a lot of reference to the COVID pandemic and the impact,
03:30 the obvious huge impact that had on the economy, and also people are talking about the energy crisis because of the war in Ukraine and in the Middle East.
03:38 Those are the things that they try and get people to remember because of policies here.
03:45 Now Jeremy Hunt, he was on his feet for over an hour, quite school masterly in the way he actually portrayed some of the policies coming up,
03:53 but the truth is in the detail, and that's what people will be poring over.
03:58 Families, workers will be looking at that overnight, tomorrow, the next few days, to see how they are impacted by this budget.