Hunt to face BBC questions after Budget that cut National Insurance

Live

Hunt hails National Insurance cut but Reeves says people still worse offGot a TV Licence?You need one to watch live TV on any channel or device, and BBC programmes on iPlayer. It’s the law.

Find out more

Live Reporting Edited by Nathan Williams and Sam Hancock

All times stated are UK

‘It’s going to be challenging to live within a tight spending envelope’

The government’s spending plans are the next focus.

The chancellor says their lack of detail is because those plans are decided and reliant on the spending review.

He says he spent a good chunk of his Budget speech yesterday explaining to MPs what the government will be doing for the NHS, alongside other services, adding:

Quote Message: We know it’s going to be challenging to live within a tight spending envelope and we want to do it without affecting the services the public value.”

Hunt, pushed on NHS, points to productivity at passport office

Amol Rajan pushes Hunt further on his promises of a more efficient NHS via digital upgrades, when previous attempts to upgrade the tech haven’t resulted in increased productivity – nor big savings.

He reminds the chancellor of his own promise – during his time as health secretary – of a paperless NHS by 2018.

Hunt concedes that he didn’t deliver that paperless promise, but says there is evidence that productivity has improved in the past and will now.

The chancellor points to the passport office as a great example of improved productivity.

Chancellor: Digitising NHS could mean more operations per year

Turning to productivity, Hunt is asked how public sector productivity differs from previous reviews commissioned in 2005, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

“Those were all important initiatives which bore results,” Hunt says, before pointing to key developments since then such as an “AI revolution”.

Hunt talks about digitising the NHS – he gives an example of operating theatres, which he says could mean an additional 200,000 operations each year.

People will see a signification reduction in taxes – Hunt

We’re on to the headline announcement from yesterday’s Budget now.

Hunt says that people on average wages will see income taxes go up in the coming year by £230 – because they’re not increasing thresholds – but he adds “they’ll see their taxes come down because of the National Insurance cuts – by £900”.

He says people will see a “significant reduction” as a result of the decisions he has taken – however he acknowledges that it won’t bring levels back down to pre-pandemic.

This is to the start of a process, he tells the Today programme, and the government are doing it in a “responsible” way.

Who are the ‘losers’ from yesterday’s Budget?

Hunt’s now asked who he believes the “losers” are from yesterday’s Budget, to which he says “foreigners who were residents in the UK”, and were paying less tax than UK residents.

Staying on tax, Hunt says the Scottish oil and gas industry will need to pay an additional contribution.

The BBC’s Amol Rajan says Hunt has been called the “fiscal drag queen of British politics” – a reference to frozen income tax thresholds, meaning more people pay higher rates as their pay goes up.

Hunt says the government decided to support families during the pandemic, and to do that taxes had to go up. He also says he’s making an active choice to bring down taxes.

“I don’t think I’ve been called a drag queen before Amol,” the chancellor adds.

Government policies increase GDP per head – chancellor

Moving on, the BBC’s Amol Rajan asks about GDP projection – he says it’s been downgraded in every
year of the forecast.

Hunt disputes this, referring again to increases in migration and says his policies increase GDP per head – he points to his National Insurance cuts here.

The chancellor says welfare reforms are coming into place, as are childcare reforms to make it easier for parents to be able to get back to work.

Hunt pressed on Budget migration claims

The chancellor is being asked how his claim that growth can’t come from unlimited migration marries up with the Budget handed down yesterday – given that the Office for Budget Responsibility says the growth figure can only be reached if net migration rises.

Jeremy Hunt tells Radio 4’s Today programme he accepts that the UK has had exceptional reasons recently (Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Ukraine) that have brought exceptionally high levels of migration.

But, he adds, “that is not sustainable over the long term and we want to bring those numbers down”.

More questions for Jeremy Hunt

Jeremy Hunt continues his morning rounds of speaking to the media.

Shortly he will be on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and you can listen above by clicking Play at the top of this page.

Watch: I’m bringing down the tax burden, says Hunt

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt spoke to BBC Breakfast this morning – watch a clip below.

Video contentVideo caption: Hunt says Budget is prudent and sensibleWatch: Government gives with one hand, takes much more with the other – Reeves

Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves responded to yesterday’s Budget on BBC Breakfast this morning.

Video contentVideo caption: Government gives with one hand, takes more with another – Rachel ReevesScrapping NI entirely would be big unfunded move, says Reeves

While we were listening to Jeremy Hunt on Breakfast, the shadow
chancellor Rachel Reeves made a second appearance on the BBC, speaking to our
colleagues on the Today programme.

Hunt has hinted would like to go further on National Insurance and scrap it entirely – one day.

“That is a bigger unfunded commitment to tax cuts than even Liz
Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng tried,” Reeves said.

When asked whether Labour would support the move, she said Labour would
never introduce a policy that is not fully funded.

Everything in the Labour manifesto will be fully funded, she says,
“you can be absolutely confident of that”.

Jeremy Hunt will
also be making an appearance on Radio 4 shortly, so stick with us as we bring
you that.

So, who is actually worse or better off?

We have just heard Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Labour’s Rachel Reeves offer conflicting interpretations on who is better off after yesterday’s Budget.

That’s because that, although National Insurance has fallen again, income tax thresholds remain unchanged. That means, as people’s pay goes up, more people will pay higher rates of income tax.

Overall, whether you win or lose depends on income – as the chart above shows.

In the upcoming financial year an average earner would enjoy a tax cut of about £340, and people earning between £26,000 and £60,000 will be better off, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says.

However by 2027 the average earner would be only £140 better off, and only people earning between £32,000 and £55,000 a year would be better off overall.

You can read more about this hereIs the government still committed to 2024 income tax pledge?

Looking forward, Hunt is asked about an income tax pledge by Rishi Sunak in 2022, to bring it down by 2024.

“Does that commitment still stand?” BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt asks.

“That commitment was made in 2022, a lot of things have changed since then,” Hunt says.

For people in work he has cut tax for people in work by 4% arguing Sunak “has gone further”, Hunt argues adding “it is good for the economy”.

Hunt asked if people earning £15,000 will pay more tax

How can it be fair for families earning £15,000 a year to be paying an
extra £400 per year under this budget, the chancellor is asked.

“Hang on, you’re taking one figure in isolation,” Hunt
responds.

He says “we’ve done a lot”. Last year, Hunt says he increased benefits for low income people, increased
local housing allowance, and yesterday extended the Household Support Fund.

“The decisions I have taken have actually prioritised support for people on the lowest
income,” he says.

I’d like to go further – Hunt

More from Hunt who is pressed on his economic plan in years to come.
He’s pressed on whether the tax burden will still be higher by 2028.

He says next year someone on an average wage will see taxes go down by
£900 as a result of the National Insurance cuts announces yesterday and in the
Autumn Statement.

Hunt says he is not pretending he can bring taxes all the way down to
pay for the debt accrued in the Covid pandemic.

“I’d like to
go further,” he says.

Hunt says it’s time to start bringing taxes down

Hunt is speaking to the Breakfast programme from an AstraZeneca vaccine facility in Liverpool, which has received a £650 million investment.

He says these kinds of investments will grow the economy.

Hunt adds that its time to start bringing taxes down after the pandemic, which affected the tax burden.

People don’t want gimmicks – Hunt

The chancellor is in Speke, Liverpool, and is first asked about whether he thinks his Budget will make his party more popular

Jeremy Hunt says people “don’t want gimmicks” adding voters back the Tories because they make sensible decisions on the economy.

“I showed how we are growing the economy,” he says.

Jeremy Hunt’s interview on BBC Breakfast begins

As we have been covering this morning, cuts to National Insurance paid by workers
was just one of the announcements made by the chancellor in his Budget.

It is likely to be the last full Budget before the general election and
Jeremy Hunt said the plans would help revive the economy.

The chancellor is
now facing questions on BBC Breakfast – you can watch by clicking Play at the top of this page.

Taxes are rising despite cuts, Reeves says

“We need a plan for growth,” Rachel Reeves says.

She says there are 700,000 people due to be on sickness benefits, at a “huge cost” to the economy due to the cost of benefits and loss of what they could be contributing.

She says Labour’s plan to address this is to get NHS waiting lists down, introduce more targeted support, reform the apprenticeship levy to give young people skills, invest alongside business in industries like carbon capture, giga factories for electric vehicles and offshore wind.

Reeves says that despite the tax cuts yesterday, families are going to be paying some £870 more. Despite National Insurance being cut again yesterday, income tax rates – and thresholds – were unchanged.

We’ll have more analysis on those figures soon.

Government gives with one hand and takes much more with another – Reeves

More from Reeves who claims the government have given with one hand and taken “much more” with the other.

Pushed on what Labour would have done, Reeves talks about planning reform “to get Britain building again”.

She says she “is in favour of lower taxes for working people” and adds the National Insurance was “belatedly cut”.

Reeves says she is not going to make commitments without saying where the money is going to come from as she points to what Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng did in their so-called mini budget in September 2022.