- Hunt will present its first full budget on March 15 as the country continues to grapple with high food and energy costs, widespread industrial action, the fallout from Brexit and the worst growth prospects among the major G-20 economies.
- The UK tax burden is currently at a 70-year high.
Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt unveiled a sweeping £55bn ($66bn) fiscal plan in his much-anticipated first autumn statement.
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Britain’s Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said on Friday the government would seek to cut taxes “as soon as we can afford it,” amid pressure from some lawmakers in his own party to ease the country’s tax burden.
Hunt will present its first full budget on March 15 as the country continues to grapple with high food and energy costs, widespread industrial action, the fallout from Brexit and the worst growth prospects among the major G-20 economies.
In his fall statement in November, Hunt delivered a series of tax increases and spending cuts as he set about plugging a significant hole in the country’s public finances.
The sweeping £55 billion ($66 billion) financial plan was aimed at restoring the country’s credibility under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government after the chaos unleashed by the former government’s disastrous ‘mini-budget’ at the end of September leader Liz Truss had been triggered.
A sharp improvement in public finances and a sharp fall in wholesale gas prices since Hunt took office led the government to a surprise budget surplus of £5.4 billion in January.
Hunt dismissed suggestions earlier this week that he had been dealt a “windfall” due to the falling cost of the energy price guarantee to shore up household energy bills, and indicated that this time he will defy calls from backbenchers within the Conservative Party to say to lower taxes. The UK tax burden is currently at a 70-year high.
At a green industry conference in London on Tuesday, Hunt argued that the falling cost of the energy price guarantee would be offset by a drop in windfall taxes on excess energy price gains, meaning a much smaller net expansion in government coffers.
“The important thing is that these were just one-off costs for a year. To make lasting changes in taxes and spending that repeat year after year, you need a more fundamental change in national policy,” he said.