Jeremy Hunt’s first Budget splits media coverage
Reaction to Jeremy Hunt’s first Budget as chancellor unveiled Wednesday maintains the political bias of the media.
Ahead of the 2023 Budget announcement, the Office for Budget Responsibility said the UK will no longer enter a technical recession this year, and it is forecast that will more than halve and reduce to 2.9% by the end of the year.
The key takeaways of the budget include:
- Parents of children between 9 months and 5 years, working 16 hours a week, will get access to 15 hours of free childcare, in a staggered implementation from April 2024
- 11p tax relief on draft drinks served in pubs from August 1
- 5p cut in fuel duty has been extended for 1 year; fuel duty will also be frozen for 1 year
- The lifetime allowance has been abolished
- Annual tax-free pension allowance will rise by 50%, from £40k to £6ok
- Abolish the work capability assessment for disabled people and separate benefit entitlement from someone’s ability to work
- New universal support programme will provide extra support to help disabled people find work
- £400m funding to increase mental health and musculoskeletal workplace support
- Corporation tax on profits over £250,000 will rise from 19% to 25% in April
- Energy price guarantee extended, keeping the average energy bill at £2,500 until the end of June
- The energy rebate scheme will still end this month
Here’s how the media responded.
Jeremy Hunt’s Budget offers £9b business tax break and surprise pension boost
Pots for the rich: Hunt’s £3.8bn pension gift to
wealthy but nothing for public sector workers
Mirror
front page, 16/03/2023
Hunt waves through biggest tax burden since the war
- Tightest two-year squeeze in living standards on record
- Free childcare extended and cap on pension savings lifted
The Times
front page, 16/03/2023
Giveaway for the 1%
- Pension change in Hunt budget puts wealthiest in line for enormous tax cut
- Public services ‘basically ignored’ and face ‘implausibly tight spending’
- Living standards to decline by 5.7% in two years – the biggest fall on record
‘Britain WILL prove doubters wrong’: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt predicts plunging inflation, falling debt and rising growth, insisting ‘the optimists are right’… but Tory sceptics slam his Budget’s tax burden and ask: Has he done enough?
Budget 2023: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has ‘stuck two fingers to workers’ with budget, says union
Stealth 4p rise in income tax, with 6 million facing squeeze
i Newspaper
front page, 16/03/2023
Budget 2023: The half-glass economy
header image via Twitter
