Babak Belurs

Sabtu, 19 November 2022

Ukraine war: Rishi Sunak visits President Zelensky in Kyiv - BBC

Rishi Sunak and Volodymyr Zelensky are saluted

Rishi Sunak pledged £50m in defence aid to Ukraine as he met the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky in his first visit to Kyiv since becoming prime minister.

The meeting was held to show "continued UK support" for Ukraine, No 10 said.

"We discussed the most important issues both for our countries and for global security," Mr Zelensky wrote on Telegram following the meeting.

"We are stronger and we will achieve the desired results," he added.

Mr Sunak - who took office last month - said it was "deeply humbling" to be in Kyiv and pledged that the UK would continue to stand by Ukrainians in their fight.

During the meeting with Mr Zelensky, he said the UK would provide a major new package of air defence to help protect Ukrainian civilians and the country's national infrastructure from Russian strikes.

Ukraine has been requesting assistance from Western nations in recent months amid intense Russian aerial attacks on Kyiv and across the country.

The £50 million package of defence aid comprises 125 anti-aircraft guns and technology to counter deadly Iranian-supplied drones, including dozens of radars and anti-drone electronic warfare capability.

It follows more than 1,000 new anti-air missiles announced by the UK's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace earlier this month.

Earlier in the week Russia hit Ukraine with one of its biggest barrages of missiles yet, days after its troops were forced to withdraw from Kherson.

Kyiv was hit and there were strikes across the country, from Lviv in the west to Chernihiv in the north.

That attack coincided with the G20 summit in Bali where, in a virtual speech, Mr Zelensky said he was "convinced now is the time when the Russian destructive war must and can be stopped".

Mr Sunak announced the UK will also increase the training offer to Ukraine's armed forces, sending expert army medics and engineers to the region to offer specialised support.

While in Kyiv, the UK prime minister laid flowers at a memorial for the war dead and lit a candle at a memorial for victims of the Holodomor famine, before meeting emergency workers at a fire station. Mr Sunak also saw captured Iranian-made drones which have been used to target and bomb Ukrainian civilians in recent months.

"I am proud of how the UK stood with Ukraine from the very beginning. And I am here today to say the UK and our allies will continue to stand with Ukraine, as it fights to end this barbarous war and deliver a just peace," Mr Sunak said.

"While Ukraine's armed forces succeed in pushing back Russian forces on the ground, civilians are being brutally bombarded from the air. We are today providing new air defence, including anti-aircraft guns, radar and anti-drone equipment, and stepping up humanitarian support for the cold, hard winter ahead," he added.

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2022-11-19 14:30:28Z
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Edinburgh weather: Cars trapped due to heavy flooding at busy junction Granton - Edinburgh News

Photos show a car and a taxi submerged in water covering the tyres and registration plate both stranded in the middle of the junction of Ferry Road and West Granton Access Road on Friday morning (November 18). The pictures show severe flooding which is nearly at the the height of buttons for pedestrian crossing poles.

In a video footage shows a truck and a cyclist both approach the junction from Granton and then make a u-turn once they spot the conditions of the road. The road has now been closed due to flooding both ways between Telford Road at the Crewe Toll roundabout and West Granton Access.

Due to significant flooding the road is likely to remain closed for some time, the council confirmed.

The view from the Red bridge, Ferry Road Photo: Helen Todd

In an update on Edinburgh Travel News it was reported that the junction is impassable for vehicles and pedestrians but access to the red bridge remains open on both sides.

Helen Todd, a local resident said: "I've lived in the area since 2009 and have never seen flooding here like this. To me, this is a real warning that the climate is changing. It shows the kind of impact it'll have on our daily lives if we don't act now and take this issue seriously.”

It comes after drivers were urged to stay off the roads as heavy rain and flooding brings chaos to road and rail networks. Flooding has led to disruption on roads and railways as heavy rain drenches some areas.

A yellow warning is in place for a large part of eastern Scotland until 6pm on Friday. Authorities said the rain will make driving difficult, with the potential for reduced visibility and surface water, and conditions likely to affect travel on both the trunk road and rail network.

Cars were submerged at the busy junction Photo: Helen Todd

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2022-11-19 08:07:58Z
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Jumat, 18 November 2022

Higher taxes look to be here to stay, says IFS - BBC

Person walking past shop which is closing down

The UK has entered a "new era" of higher taxes, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank has said.

Its director Paul Johnson said that middle earners were "set for a shock" with taxes going up and prices soaring.

In his Autumn Statement, the chancellor announced plans to increase taxes to shore up the public finances and to provide help with energy bills.

The toughest decisions on spending cuts had been delayed until after 2024, the IFS said in its analysis of the plans.

On Friday, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt acknowledged there were "very difficult times ahead" but said his plans gave people "certainty" on how the government would help them through the recession.

But the IFS's Mr Johnson warned that living standards were facing the "biggest fall in living memory" due to weak economic growth, an ageing population and high levels of government borrowing in the past.

"The truth is we just got a lot poorer. We are in for a long, hard, unpleasant journey; a journey that has been made more arduous than it might have been by a series of economic own goals," Mr Johnson said.

On Thursday, the government's independent forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, said the UK was in a recession and forecast that the economy would shrink next year.

Mr Johnson described the economic backdrop as "grim", and said the tax burden was unlikely to return to its pre-pandemic average "for several decades".

In total, the plans announced on Thursday amount to about £25bn in tax rises. The measures include:

Tax thresholds being frozen until April 2028, meaning millions will pay more tax
The top 45% additional rate of income tax starting for people earning over £125,140, instead of £150,000
Local councils in England being allowed to raise council tax by 5% a year without a local vote, instead of 3% currently

Mr Johnson said people on middle incomes would be hardest hit, because they would not benefit from targeted government support.

"Their wages are falling and their taxes are rising. Middle England is set for a shock," he said.

According to the think tank's analysis, households will pay energy bills that are £900 a year higher than they are now - after the energy price cap rises in April and without this year's £400 rebate.

Daniel Cooke, a father of three, told the BBC he won't qualify for extra help, but he has already had to take on a second job delivering takeaways in the evenings to make ends meet.

"We've been able to almost survive with the assistance that's come through from the government… [it's now] going to be taken away from us through almost no fault of our own.

"It's a very frightening, very worrying time for us as a young family. How we're going to pay for our bills, how we're going to pay for our gas and electric - I have no idea."

In the Autumn Statement, the chancellor announced he was extending the freezing of tax thresholds for a further two years up to 2028. That means the threshold where you start paying tax is fixed, rather than rising with inflation. So people will pay a higher proportion of their earnings in tax as their wages go up.

updated graphic showing impact of freezing tax thresholds

While taxes will rise from April, almost all spending cuts will be delayed until after 2024, when the next general election is expected, a move which drew criticism from some parts of the Conservative Party.

Former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg urged the chancellor to look at further government spending cuts "before reaching for the easy options of putting up taxes".

But Mr Hunt defended his plans, telling the BBC's Today programme: "Sound money matters more than low taxes."

He also denied that the announcements constituted a "raid on working people", and suggested that it was not possible to raise £25bn "just focusing on a very small group of very rich people".

As well as tax rises for people on average incomes, he said his plan involves "looking after the most vulnerable", pointing towards new targeted payments for pensioners, people on means-tested benefits and people who claim disability benefits to help with rising bills.

The Autumn Statement was also praised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for balancing the need to bring prices down and protect people's earnings during a difficult time for the economy.

"We welcome the government's efforts to better protect the vulnerable and to prioritise education, health, and investment," the IMF said, which was in stark contrast to the criticism it offered Kwasi Kwarteng in the wake of September's mini-budget.

But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government could have made "fairer choices" around tax.

"We need a serious plan to grow our economy," she told BBC Breakfast, criticising the government's decision to reduce the tax surcharge on banks, and its failure to introduce a non-dom tax status or to tax private equity bonuses.

"If [the government] did some of those things, [it] wouldn't have needed to increase taxes on ordinary people. This government comes time and again for the pockets of the ordinary man and woman rather than for those with the broader shoulders," she added.

The IFS analysis also found that ordinary households will be 30% worse off by 2028 than they would have been had incomes continued to grow as they did before the 2008 financial crisis.

Its findings chimed with those of the Resolution Foundation, a think tank that focuses on people on lower incomes.

The Resolution Foundation said that the chancellor's economic plans would add more pressure on the "squeezed middle", who face a permanent 3.7% hit to their incomes, which is bigger than the very richest.

It added that it thought the spending cuts outlined on Thursday were likely to be "undeliverable" as they would require "years of holding down public sector wages below those in the private sector".

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2022-11-18 15:11:32Z
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Next two years will be 'challenging', says Chancellor Jeremy Hunt - as disposable incomes head for biggest fall on record - Sky News

The UK's economic outlook will be "challenging" for the next two years, Jeremy Hunt says.

The chancellor presented his autumn statement to parliament on Thursday, littered with stealth taxes and curbs on government spending amounting to £55bn in an attempt to plug the black hole in the public finances.

But the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned the disposable incomes of UK households would fall by 7.1% over the next two years - the biggest drop on record.

Politics live: Tax burden reaches highest level since WWII

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Hunt said it was "a difficult time for everyone" but tax hikes and spending cuts are needed to get the economy "on an even keel".

"Over the next two years it is going to be challenging," he said.

"But I think people want a government that is taking difficult decisions, has a plan that will bring down inflation, stop those big rises in the cost of energy bills and the weekly shop, and at the same time is taking measures to get through this difficult period."

The chancellor insisted that his autumn statement is a "very Conservative package" following criticism from some Tory MPs.

"The Office for Budgetary Responsibility said yesterday that what we're doing is actually recession shallow, it's saving jobs," he said.

"But what I would say to my Conservative colleagues is there is nothing Conservative about spending money that you haven't got, there is nothing Conservative about not tackling inflation, there is nothing Conservative about ducking difficult decisions that put the economy on track.

"And we've done all of those things and that is why this is a very Conservative package to make sure we sort out the economy.

"None of this is easy, but it's the right thing to do."

Former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg accused the chancellor of taking the "easy option" in Thursday's autumn statement rather than bearing down harder on public spending.

He said the country needed lower taxes to drive up growth.

Probed on how it can be fair that pensions will go up by inflation when public sector workers will not see pay increase alongside prices, Mr Hunt said the elderly do not have the ability to work more to improve their take home pay.

"Well, I think the truth is, first of all, pensioners have retired. They don't have the ability to work more or work longer hours in the way that people of working age do," the chancellor said.

"But I think it is wrong to say that only the poorest pensioners are feeling the squeeze at the moment.

"I think this is something that's affecting everyone and I think it's right.

"Having made that promise to pensioners in our manifesto that we would have this triple lock, I think this is exactly the kind of tough time that people want it to kick in.

"And so that's why I think it's the right thing to do."

The chancellor added: "We're not pretending that this isn't going to be a difficult time for everyone. But what we have is a plan."

In yesterday's autumn statement, Mr Hunt announced economic policies which the government hopes will help to rebalance the nation's finances after the economic turmoil which followed former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget.

These included:

• Income tax thresholds being frozen for two more years until April 2028

• Top level of income tax now being paid on earnings over £125,140 instead of £150,000

• Pensions triple lock will remain - with pensioners to see a 10.1% increase in weekly payments in line with inflation

• Benefits to also rise in line with inflation - by 10.1%

• Energy cap to rise from £3,000 a year to £2,500 a year beyond April

• UK minimum wage to rise from £9.50 to £10.42 an hour for those aged over 23

• Windfall tax on oil giants' profits to rise from 25% to 35% and be extended by two years until March 2028

• Additional cost of living payments of £900 for those on benefits and £300 for pensioners

• Spending on public services in England to rise slower than planned

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

As a result of Mr Hunt's announcements, the tax burden in the UK will also now be at its highest since the Second World War, and there are stark warnings about increased bills and higher unemployment as the recession takes hold - as well as predictions the economy will still shrink 1.4% in 2023.

But most of the difficult decisions on spending have been postponed until after the next general election, due in 2024.

Treasury analysis suggests around 55% of households will be worse off as a result of the measures.

Labour has blamed "12 weeks of Conservative chaos" and "12 years of Conservative economic failure" for the bleak outlook.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves accused the government of forcing the UK economy into a "doom loop where low growth leads to higher taxes, lower investments and squeezed wages, with the running down of public services".

Ms Reeves told Sky News she is "really worried about what's going to happen to people's living standards next year from April" and said a Labour government would have done more "to alleviate some of that pressure on the ordinary working person".

As Mr Hunt took part in the broadcast round Friday morning, economic think-tank the Resolution Foundation published analysis suggesting his autumn statement's tax rises would deliver a 3.7% income hit to typical households.

The foundation said the statement had piled further pressure on the "squeezed middle" and that the focus on "stealthy" tax threshold freezes to raise revenue would extend far beyond high earners.

The think tank also found that the budget would reverse much of the government's levelling up agenda.

"The £15 billion of cuts to capital investment announced yesterday will undo 80% of the remaining increases in public investment announced by previous chancellor Rishi Sunak, which underpinned the levelling-up agenda," it said.

The Resolution Foundation's research director James Smith later said Mr Hunt's proposed spending cuts "don't look obviously deliverable".

While independent economics research think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said "higher taxes look here to stay".

Speaking at a news conference, the IFS's director Paul Johnson said the 7% drop in disposable income over the next two years will "hit everyone", adding that "middle England is set for quite a shock".

"The truth is we just got a lot poorer. We are in for a long, hard, unpleasant journey; a journey that has been made more arduous that it might have been by a series of economic own goals," he said.

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Next two years will be 'challenging', says Chancellor Jeremy Hunt - as disposable incomes are set to fall to record lowest level - Sky News

The UK's economic outlook will be "challenging" for the next two years, Jeremy Hunt says.

But the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned the disposable incomes of UK households would fall by 7.1% over the next two years - the lowest level since records began in 1956/7, and taking incomes down to 2013 levels.

Politics live: Tax burden reaches highest level since WWII

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Hunt said it was "a difficult time for everyone" but tax hikes and spending cuts are needed to get the economy "on an even keel".

"Over the next two years it is going to be challenging," he said.

The chancellor insisted that his autumn statement is a "very Conservative package" following criticism from some Tory MPs.

"The Office for Budgetary Responsibility said yesterday that what we're doing is actually recession shallow, it's saving jobs," he said.

"And we've done all of those things and that is why this is a very Conservative package to make sure we sort out the economy.

"None of this is easy, but it's the right thing to do."

Former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg accused the chancellor of taking the "easy option" in Thursday's autumn statement rather than bearing down harder on public spending.

He said the country needed lower taxes to drive up growth.

"Well, I think the truth is, first of all, pensioners have retired. They don't have the ability to work more or work longer hours in the way that people of working age do," the chancellor said.

"But I think it is wrong to say that only the poorest pensioners are feeling the squeeze at the moment.

"I think this is something that's affecting everyone and I think it's right.

"Having made that promise to pensioners in our manifesto that we would have this triple lock, I think this is exactly the kind of tough time that people want it to kick in.

"And so that's why I think it's the right thing to do."

The chancellor added: "We're not pretending that this isn't going to be a difficult time for everyone. But what we have is a plan."

These included:

• Income tax thresholds being frozen for two more years until April 2028

• Top level of income tax now being paid on earnings over £125,140 instead of £150,000

• Pensions triple lock will remain - with pensioners to see a 10.1% increase in weekly payments in line with inflation

• Benefits to also rise in line with inflation - by 10.1%

• Energy cap to rise from £3,000 a year to £2,500 a year beyond April

• UK minimum wage to rise from £9.50 to £10.42 an hour for those aged over 23

• Windfall tax on oil giants' profits to rise from 25% to 35% and be extended by two years until March 2028

• Additional cost of living payments of £900 for those on benefits and £300 for pensioners

• Spending on public services in England to rise slower than planned

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

But most of the difficult decisions on spending have been postponed until after the next general election, due in 2024.

Treasury analysis suggests around 55% of households will be worse off as a result of the measures.

Labour has blamed "12 weeks of Conservative chaos" and "12 years of Conservative economic failure" for the bleak outlook.

The foundation said the statement had piled further pressure on the "squeezed middle" and that the focus on "stealthy" tax threshold freezes to raise revenue would extend far beyond high earners.

The think tank also found that the budget would reverse much of the government's levelling up agenda.

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2022-11-18 07:30:00Z
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Kamis, 17 November 2022

UK faces biggest fall in living standards on record - BBC

By Daniel Thomas

Business reporter, BBC News

The UK faces its biggest drop in living standards on record as the surging cost of living eats into people's wages.

The government's forecaster said that household incomes - once rising prices were taken into account - would dive by 7% in the next few years.

It also expects the number of people who are unemployed to rise by more than 500,000.

It came as the chancellor said the UK was already in recession and set to shrink further next year.

But Jeremy Hunt said his Autumn Statement - which unveiled £55bn of tax rises and spending cuts - would lead to a "shallower downturn" with fewer jobs lost.

Energy and food bills have shot up due to the war in Ukraine and pandemic, and are squeezing household budgets.

Inflation - the rate at which prices rise - is at a 41-year high which the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) says is dragging on the economy.

The forecaster said price rises were likely to peak at 11% in the final three months of this year, thanks largely to the government's energy price guarantee scheme which limits bills.

Graphic showing OBR forecast of fall in household income

However, it said inflation would still "erode real wages and reduce living standards" this year by the biggest margin seen since 1956, when records began.

It expects household incomes when adjusted for inflation to fall back to the levels they were in 2013. It will then take six years for them to recover, although they will still be "over 1% below pre-pandemic levels" by 2028.

Compounding this situation, the OBR said, will be rising interest rates, which the Bank of England has already put up to 3% to try to battle inflation.

House prices are also forecast to fall by about 9% over the next two years as a result of higher mortgage costs.

Taken together, the OBR thinks this will tip the economy into a recession "lasting just over a year" as consumers spend less and businesses cut investment.

It expects the UK economy to shrink by 1.4% in 2023 before growth gradually picks up again.

The forecaster also thinks the unemployment rate will rise from 3.6% today - near a record low - to 4.9% in 2024 before falling back.

A recession is defined as when a country's economy shrinks for two three-month periods - or quarters - in a row.

Typically companies make less money, pay falls and unemployment rises. This means the government receives less money in tax to use on public services.

Claire Mills, from Matson in Gloucester, is unable to work due to health issues. She says the whole community is worried about the rising cost of living.

"This is a council estate. There are young families, single parents and they can't afford this," the 59-year-old told the BBC.

She wants the government to do more to help the poorest households.

"The prices have doubled in some supermarkets for certain things," she says. "And the gas and electric is nearly a mortgage payment - it's ridiculous."

Mr Hunt hopes his Autumn Statement will help restore the UK's economic credibility after the controversy of September's mini-budget.

Investors were spooked by the mini-budget's promise of large, unfunded tax cuts, with the pound falling to a record low and government borrowing costs shooting upwards.

Mr Hunt, who has scrapped most of his predecessor's plans, promised on Thursday to bring government debt down as a percentage of economic output within five years under a new fiscal rule, not three years as under the previous plans.

He added that the budget deficit would be brought below 3% of output - or gross domestic product (GDP) - within five years.

On Thursday, the pound fell slightly against the US dollar after Mr Hunt delivered his statement. The government's borrowing costs remained broadly unchanged.

'A perfect storm'

Analysis box by Dharshini David, economics correspondent

This is likely to be a relatively shallow recession for the economy as a whole - but for households, it will mean the wipeout of gains in living standards, a return to 2014.

It's a consequence of multiple factors. Looming large has been a spike in energy prices and food costs. The government support package has cushioned only part of the blow inflicted by the former.

Then there's the policy response to soaring inflation: increases in interest rates from the Bank of England, designed to reduce price pressures by squeezing finances. The official forecasts reckon that house prices will fall by more than 5% in 2024 as buyers feel the pinch.

And there are the tax rises, targeted towards the better off, which will slowly eat into their fortunes. The tax man is set to take the biggest slice of the nation's income since World War Two.

Hard pressed employers, too, are granting pay rises that are failing to match the cost of living - and ultimately, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts, they will cut over 500,000 jobs.

It's a perfect storm. Households may be far from clear of it by the time the general election approaches in 2024.

With additional reporting from Katie Thompson

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2022-11-17 15:25:31Z
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Jeremy Hunt unveils £55bn fiscal squeeze as UK economic outlook darkens - Financial Times

Jeremy Hunt, chancellor, confronted the fiscal “storm” battering Britain on Thursday, announcing £55bn of tax rises and spending cuts intended to restore the country’s reputation and shore up its frail balance sheet.

Two months after Kwasi Kwarteng, Hunt’s predecessor, sparked market panic with a “mini” Budget that included £45bn of unfunded tax cuts, the chancellor’s Autumn Statement turned Tory economic policy on its head.

While Kwarteng announced the largest tax-cutting plan for 50 years, Hunt presided over the biggest tax-raising effort for 30 years outside the period of the pandemic, leaving the country with the highest tax burden since the second world war.

The chancellor told a sombre House of Commons that a massive fiscal consolidation, including £30bn of spending cuts and £25bn of tax rises, was needed to restore Britain’s credibility and tame inflation.

The Office for Budget Responsibility said that by 2027-2028 Britain would have a tax burden of 37.1 per cent of gross domestic product — one percentage point higher than forecast in March and a postwar record.

With Britain’s economy sliding into recession, the OBR forecasts highlighted the challenge for household and public finances, both of which will be strained by predicted 2023 inflation of 7.4 per cent. The economy is projected to contract by 1.4 per cent and is not forecast to recover to pre-pandemic levels until the end of 2024.

The OBR said that rising prices would erode real wages and reduce living standards in the biggest fall in six decades, down 7 per cent over the two financial years to 2023-24. This would wipe out the previous eight years’ growth, despite over £100bn of additional government support.

The pound was 1 per cent lower on the day at $1.1788 against the dollar after Hunt set out the package, slightly below the level before the chancellor began his statement. UK government bonds remained under moderate pressure, trading slightly below on the day.

Much of the fiscal consolidation, including “stealth” rises in taxes and a big squeeze on public spending, is scheduled for the years after an expected 2024 general election. Rachel Reeves, Labour Treasury spokesperson, said it was intended as an election “trap” for her party.

But one of the biggest increases in taxation — freezing national insurance thresholds for businesses — will take effect from April 2023.

Hunt delighted Tory MPs by finding money to soften the blow of rising inflation for the health and social care system, providing an extra £5bn a year, and a further £3bn for schools for the next two financial years.

He also announced inflation-linked increases to pensioners and those on benefits, confirming he was keeping the “pensions triple lock”. He said: “To be British is to be compassionate.”

Hunt said public spending would rise by only 1 per cent in real terms in the next parliament and capital spending would be frozen in cash terms, raising £21bn and £14bn respectively — the majority of the fiscal squeeze. This would represent a significant cut to capital spending plans.

The chancellor insisted that the tax rises and spending cuts were required by an “international crisis” and played down the idea that any of the problems were homegrown. “It is a recession made in Russia, a recovery made in Britain,” he said.

But his statement was a recognition that Britain’s dismal recent economic performance — hobbled by the 2008 crash, the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war and Brexit — meant the country was living beyond its means.

Hunt told MPs that his Autumn Statement would ensure that Britain’s debt was falling as a share of GDP by the end of the five-year forecast provided by the OBR, which was sidelined by Kwarteng.

Britain’s economic recovery from the depths of the pandemic has fallen short of its rivals. Figures collated by the OECD found that the UK economy was still 0.4 per cent smaller in the third quarter of this year than in the final quarter of 2019; the eurozone was 2.1 per cent larger and the US 4.2 per cent bigger.

Andrew Bailey, Bank of England governor, said on Wednesday that Brexit had contributed to the UK’s economic weakness, although Hunt and Rishi Sunak, prime minister, have played down its significance.

Hunt told MPs the global outlook was difficult. “We aren’t immune to these global headwinds,” he said. “But with this plan for stability, growth and public services, we will face into the storm.”

The chancellor said his principal objective was to help the BoE defeat inflation, which hit a 41-year high of 11.1 per cent in October. “We need fiscal and monetary policy to work together,” he said.

The chancellor insisted that his tax-raising measures were fair: they included a cut in the threshold for the 45 per cent top rate of tax from £150,000 to £125,000; the burden of dividend taxes and capital gains tax will also rise. “We are asking more from those who have more,” he said.

Businesses will also face a big tax increase, notably through the freezing of the national insurance threshold for employer contributions, which will raise £5.8bn by 2028. A windfall tax on energy companies will raise £14bn next year.

Hunt confirmed that average energy bills would be capped at £3,000 a year from next April for everyone, while the most vulnerable would receive special help to hold down their bills.

Among the measures announced by Hunt was a confirmation that EU rules governing the insurance sector, Solvency II, would be rewritten to release “tens of billions of pounds” of capital to be spent on infrastructure. The Sizewell C nuclear power station would be built.

Video: The Brexit effect: how leaving the EU hit the UK

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2022-11-17 14:59:23Z
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Sabtu, 19 November 2022

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Kamis, 17 November 2022

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