The chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: They told me they were very uncertain about the figures that came out, in terms of economies. Like me they wanted to be very sure they weren’t doing things that hurt the attractiveness of the UK. These are foreigners who could easily live in Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain, they all have these programs. All things being equal, I’d rather they stay here and spend their money here. Pressed on whether the Treasury had given him a figure for how much scrapping the scheme would cost, he said: No, because we do not agree with the figures given by Labour. The Treasury didn’t tell me it was going to help the economy do that, so I chose not to. I’m not going to do anything that will damage the long-term attractiveness of the UK, even though it gives the opposition parties easy shots, I think it would be the wrong thing to do in terms of creating jobs in the UK. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said Labor would have got rid of non-households and made different tax decisions, such as VAT on private school fees and a windfall tax increase. However, she told Sky News she was “pleased” with the government’s decisions on the triple lock and benefits, but said she was still concerned about rising energy bills. Taking issue with the budget containing many measures Labor would like, Ms Reeves said: I didn’t feel that way. I’m really worried about what’s going to happen to people’s living standards from April. He said Labor would not make concrete proposals on the economy until the next election, but added: Even if you have a difficult fiscal legacy, and we know a Labor government will have that because of the choices the Conservatives have made, you can make different choices and prioritize different things. Updated at 09.23 GMT Important events BETA filters Key Facts (6) Jeremy Hunt (7) Rachel Reeves (3) Faisal Ali Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said Spain, Ireland, France and other neighboring countries had similar non-residential tax arrangements and he wanted to avoid sweeping changes to encourage them to settle and spend money here. Here is the quote in which he was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today program if he knew how much tax non-residential could raise. He said he did not believe Labour’s figures and was told by the Treasury that it would not help the economy. He did not say whether or not the Treasury Department had its own data. Jeremy Hunt dodges question about whether Treasury has tax figures outside the country – video Meanwhile, on Sky News, shadow chancellor Rachael Reeves criticized the government’s reluctance to change its policy on the tax status of non-domiciled UK residents. Reiterating a line of attack she made yesterday in her response to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Reeves told Sky News that taxing non-residential housing could raise up to £3.2 billion, which could be used to “invest in NHS workforce’. Here’s the clip: Rachel Reeves slams chancellor for not changing non-domestic tax rules – video
Hunt said the UK needed “unfettered trade” with the European Union
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has admitted that Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit deal has created damaging trade barriers with the European Union, as he said immigration will be “very important” to the economy. Hunt insisted the UK would find a way to improve trade ties with the EU without rejoining the single market. His comments came after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said Brexit had a “significant negative effect” on trade volumes and business relationships between UK and European businesses. Asked whether rejoining the single market would boost growth, the Chancellor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: I think that unrestricted trade with our neighbors and countries around the world is very beneficial for development. I am very confident that in the coming years we will find that outside the single market we will be able to remove the vast majority of trade barriers that exist between us and the EU. It will take time. Pushing for the single market, he said: I don’t think it’s the right way to boost growth because it would go against what people voted for when they backed Brexit, which was to have control over our borders and joining the single market requires free movement of people. So I think we can find other ways to outweigh those advantages. Hunt insisted that immigration was needed to stimulate growth. There needs to be a long-term plan if we are going to reduce immigration in a way that doesn’t hurt the economy. We recognize that we will need immigration for years to come – that will be very important for the economy, yes.
The Resolution Foundation says it is “difficult to see” how the spending cuts will be achieved
The Resolution Foundation’s director of research said Jeremy Hunt’s cuts do not look feasible, saying vulnerable sectors would face “2014/15 levels of austerity” in the style of George Osborne. Research director James Smith said: They don’t seem obviously deliverable. If you take the spending cuts that are there and take out the protected areas like health and defense, you end up with very big falls in those unprotected areas. It is hard to see how, given the legacy of austerity, given that public sector wages are already lagging and given that this effectively ties the hands of governments, it is really hard to see how they will be delivered. Smith added that Thursday’s autumn statement had seen the biggest deterioration in forecasts since the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) began in 2010 due to the “damage” of higher interest rates. What we saw yesterday was the biggest deterioration in overall forecasts since the OBR started producing these forecasts. What is doing the damage here is the higher interest rates. Higher inflation and higher interest costs hurt the fiscal position. Updated at 09:49 GMT Money saving expert Martin Lewis said the “honest truth” is that people should be looking at their finances to budget and plan for next spring ahead of a “very difficult year ahead”. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Lewis said: Look, I mean the Chancellor was at least upfront that we’re in for a very difficult year ahead. What everyone should do is take the help they were given and for anything else, the honest truth is you have to look at your own finances. You should budget and plan now for the year ahead, see what space you have and make sure you are as efficient as possible with everything. There’s a point there, and that’s not to take the government’s responsibility away from protecting people, but if you’re not going to protect yourself because that’s the situation or you’re not getting help, that’s the time to look at your own finances and see what you can do to shape them into a little better style. It won’t solve everything, but it might make things a little easier. Lewis added that he met the chancellor earlier this week, where he pushed hard for flexibility on mortgages and forbearance on the “squeezed waistline” ahead of spring. He told LBC Radio: We’re going to see next spring that we’re going to have this perfect storm of energy bills going up, the cost of living continuing to rise, and energy bills at their peak. My concern is what we are doing to get over people. He said he had “pushed hard for some improvements in flexibility and forbearance in mortgage packages, such as mortgage breaks and temporary extension of repayment terms. He said he had discussed with the chancellor convening a mortgage summit with the regulator and big lenders to discuss how to get people out next spring. That was an important section that was missing from the budget yesterday, but I think what the Chancellor wants to do is solve it through the private sector by pushing and encouraging the private sector to make changes and I’m pushing and encouraging the Chancellor to make sure she does that. We are looking at UK interest rates at 5% and that means higher mortgage rates when people leave (fixed rates) next spring – What is he going to do to protect those in the middle with mortgages and paying private rents? Updated at 09:51 GMT Richard Hughes, chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said he was more upbeat with his forecast than the Bank of England’s economic forecast because he believed households would draw on their savings to help them spend more . He told PA: Our forecast is in line with other forecasters and the bank is more extreme to the downside. One reason we are more optimistic is that many households built up savings during the pandemic – we believe households could build savings to fill the gap. The Bank of England assumes that savings are not falling but falling. We believe that people may dip into their savings as a form of consumption. We think if there was ever a time they would dip into saving, it’s now, which could support consumption when incomes fall to bridge the gap as their real earnings start to recover.
Jeremy Hunt insists non-dom is good for the economy
Jeremy Hunt was asked why he didn’t do anything about the offshore tax regime. The chancellor said the Treasury had not given him estimates of how much scrapping the offshore tax regime would raise, but added he would prefer the super-rich to “stay here and spend…
