“Given the scale of the fiscal hole that the Chancellor was facing, he did the best job he could of patching it up without causing too much pain – except for the wealthy. While we would disagree with many of the decisions taken, most of the alternatives were even worse. But if we are to avoid more pain in the future, we urgently need to focus on the challenge of getting Britain investing, building and growing.”
“The Chancellor has put the United Kingdom firmly on track for higher taxes, more spending, and lower growth. This is a recipe for managed decline, not a plan for prosperity. Jeremy Hunt is right to emphasise the need to bring down our debt burden and slow down the growth in government spending. But the consequence of considerable tax hikes could be a deeper and longer economic downturn – ultimately resulting in less taxpayer revenue over the long-term. The Chancellor has chosen to protect pensioners and those on welfare, but ordinary workers have been clobbered.”
“Today’s statement was a return to managed decline. Entering a recession promising the highest tax burden in three-quarters of a century does not strike the right balance between fiscal credibility and growth. The Chancellor highlighted the harms of inflation, then added fuel to fire by threatening yet more tax threshold freezes—undermining productivity whilst hitting the pockets of people across the income spectrum…In five years time, the average household will be poorer than they were before the pandemic. If we want to avoid that scenario, the Conservative Party must address the imagination deficit at the heart of British politics.”
“These plans look set to prolong the crippling cost of government crisis. Taxpayers will take a kicking over the coming years to pay for a raft of spending increases, with most tough decisions seemingly kicked into the long grass. The government should have set out how they will get costs under control, not compounded the misery of sky-high inflation with tax hikes on working families.”
“The return of ‘compassion’ to the government’s political lexicon is welcome and overdue. Today the Government answered calls from the Centre for Social Justice and others to uprate the incomes of the poorest households in line with inflation, against fiercely competing pressures on the public purse. For this the Chancellor deserves credit. But the cost-of-living crisis is far from over. Many people who are just about managing will, come Christmas, be barely coping if at all. As recession darkens over the UK economy the Government must go further than welfare top-ups and accelerate plans to help people into productive employment.”
“It will be a huge relief to families on benefits that they are not facing what would have amounted to a historic cut. In taking this stand, the government has acknowledged that people cannot withstand benefits being eroded any further. However families are facing the worst winter many will remember and can’t wait for April – they need the help now to get through a winter of soaring costs. Even with uprating, rates are at historic lows and households facing difficult times are increasingly not able to cover the essentials.”
“Britain seems to be going backwards. We are back in recession. Inflation is back to historic highs. We are back to an austere fiscal strategy. These economic woes are largely driven by global factors, but also in part by the policy decisions of Conservative-led Governments: the so-called ‘mini-Budget’ and Brexit, in particular. Most of the public are now paying higher taxes, higher mortgages and higher bills as a proportion of their household income. Since all this significant financial hardship is happening after twelve years of Tory rule, they are unlikely to forgive the Tories for yet another round of austerity. Even if there is no other alternative to the broad fiscal strategy that is now being pursued.”
“The Chancellor’s main job today was to begin restoring political stability and economic credibility. He has taken tough decisions in a difficult environment to achieve that goal. And he seems to have done so in a way which limits the impact on the most vulnerable, protecting benefits while taxing high earners and energy companies. Today was not a return to austerity. The difficult task ahead is to boost growth and unlock opportunity across the country.”