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Jeremy Hunt is set to cut national insurance by a further two percentage points in Wednesday’s budget, as he looks to give a tax break to working people.

Amid much discussion between income tax and national insurance cuts, Jeremy Hunt looks to be prioritising a tax cut for an average of 27 million workers as he builds on the two percentage point national insurance cut that came in this year.

In total, the chancellor will be able to say he is cutting taxes by an average of £900 this year.

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Many Conservative MPs want the chancellor to cut income tax by two percentage points in the March budget as a more headline-grabbing decision that benefits more voters, including pensioners, but Treasury insiders said the chancellor has leaned in towards a national insurance cut because it applies across the UK – Scotland sets its own income tax thresholds – and is designed to “make work pay”.

Government figures have been playing down a big tax-cutting budget, arguing that various tax cuts – be it around inheritance tax or stamp duty – have fallen away because of deteriorating economic forecasts, which has limited his scope.

Recent Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts have given the chancellor £13bn of headroom, against his fiscal rule to have debt falling as a share of gross domestic product in five years’ time.

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The chancellor’s decision to cut national insurance by two percentage points will cost around £10bn.

With limited headroom, Mr Hunt will also need revenue raisers in Wednesday’s budget and is considering taking Labour’s plan to limit tax breaks for foreign domiciled nationals living in the UK – Labour were looking at raising £2bn in tax from this.

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Hunt hints at ‘responsible’ tax cuts

A new levy on vaping is on the cards, as is tax on air passenger duty for business class travel and tax breaks for those who rent out second homes for holiday lets.

The chancellor is also considering cutting back plans to increase departmental spending by just 0.75% a year, instead of 2% to raise around £5bn.

However, many Conservative MPs eyeing the huge gulf in the polls want the chancellor to go further on tax cuts.

Dame Priti Patel, former cabinet minister, said she and many colleagues now wanted movement on income tax.

“We’ve had national insurance cuts already, we had one in the Autumn Statement, that is why I think the best way forward would be to balance that out with an income tax cut,” she said, calling on the chancellor to deliver a two percentage points income tax cut.

“You’ve seen the numbers, more and more people, up to four million more people will be dragged into paying higher rates of taxation because those thresholds haven’t changed by 2029. And I think we need to do something about that.”

However, the insiders are playing the prospect of bigger tax cuts beyond national insurance down, insisting that his room of manoeuvrability is limited. Mr Hunt’s approach is likely to be consistent with the last three fiscal events, in which he prioritised economic growth, workers and cutting inflation.

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Despite all the briefings in the past few days, Labour is planning on the basis that the chancellor will do something on income tax, with the opposition party working on the basis that his headroom is bigger than billed – it has pencilled in £25bn – and the chancellor could afford to do both.

Analysis done internally by Labour shows that even with 3p in income tax people are still worse off because the threshold increases – with people’s pay going up dragging them into higher tax bands and council tax increases, according to one figure.

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Struggling Aston Martin steers into fresh pay controversy

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Struggling Aston Martin steers into fresh pay controversy

Aston Martin is steering a path towards a twin-pronged pay row with shareholders as it grapples with the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on car manufacturers.

Sky News can reveal that the influential proxy voting adviser ISS is urging investors to vote against both of Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings’ remuneration votes at next week’s annual general meeting.

The pay policy vote, which is binding on the company, has attracted opposition from ISS because it proposes significant increases to potential bonus awards to Adrian Hallmark, the company’s new chief executive.

“Concerns are raised regarding the increased bonus maximums, which are built upon competitively[1]positioned salary levels and do not appear appropriate given the company’s recent performance,” ISS said in a report to clients.

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Aston Martin is also facing a meaningful vote against its pay report for last year – which is on an advisory basis only – because of the salaries awarded to Mr Hallmark and other executive directors.

The company’s shares have nearly halved in the last year, and it now has a market value of little more than £660m.

Despite the ISS recommendation, Aston Martin will win the vote by virtue of chairman Lawrence Stroll’s 33% shareholding.

The luxury car manufacturer has had a torrid time as a public company and now faces the headwinds of President Trump’s tariffs blitz.

This week it said it would limit exports to the US to offset the impact of the policy.

Aston Martin did not respond to a request for comment ahead of next Wednesday’s AGM.

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Financial wellbeing platform Mintago lands £6m funding boost

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Financial wellbeing platform Mintago lands £6m funding boost

A financial wellbeing platform which counts the alcohol-free beer producer Lucky Saint among its clients has landed a £6m funding injection from a syndicate of well-known investors.

Sky News understands that Mintago, which was founded in 2019, will announce in the coming days that Guinness Ventures has jointly led the Series A round alongside Seed X Liechtenstein and Social Impact Enterprises.

Mintago, which also counts car rental firm Avis and Northumbrian Police among its customers, aims to help employees save and manage their money more effectively.

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A number of the start-up’s current investors, Love Ventures and Truesight Ventures, are also understood to have reinvested as part of the fundraising.

MINTAGO
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The company, which counts Lucky Saint and Avis among its users, has finalised a Series A funding round

The company was set up by Chieu Cao and Daniel Conti, and claims to offer more salary sacrifice schemes than any other UK provider.

It also provides independent financial advice, a service for finding lost pension pots, retail discounts and GP services.

“We realised that organisations are crying out for the same help we provide their staff,” Mr Conti said.

“The benefits of providing that support impact everyone.

“When a company improves their salary sacrifice benefits engagement, they can save thousands in National Insurance Contributions, but their employees save too, easing the strain on their finances.”

The new capital will be used to develop additional products using artificial intelligence, according to the company.

“Mintago is enabling its customers to become truly people-centric organisations by giving them the tools to support their employees’ financial wellbeing,” Mathias Jaeggi, a partner at Seed X Liechtenstein, said.

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iPhones sold in US will no longer come from China – as Apple reveals impact of Trump’s tariffs

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iPhones sold in US will no longer come from China - as Apple reveals impact of Trump's tariffs

Apple says devices sold in the US will no longer come from China, as the tech giant tries to mitigate the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Most iPhones will be sourced from India instead, with iPads coming from Vietnam, to prevent dramatic price rises for American consumers.

Unveiling financial results from January to March, the company said the US president’s escalating trade war has had a limited impact on its performance so far.

However, Apple CEO Tim Cook believes the tariffs will add £677m in costs during the current quarter – assuming Trump’s policies don’t change.

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Revenue for the first three months of the year stood at £71.8bn, with earnings of £18.6bn also beating analyst expectations.

High demand for iPhones during this period may have been driven by US shoppers rushing to make purchases before the new tariffs came into force.

But the full impact of any panic buying will only emerge when Apple reports its results from April to June later in the year.

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Apple’s reliance on Chinese factories to manufacture its iPhones meant the company was far more exposed to the impact of Trump’s trade war than others.

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Trump: Tariffs making US ‘rich’

After the president unveiled plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries – now largely paused for 90 days – Apple’s stock plunged by 23%, wiping out £582bn of value.

While its share price has recovered slightly, it remains 5% lower than before “Liberation Day”.

Growing tensions between Washington and Beijing are also having an impact on Apple’s sales in China, which fell 2.3% between January and March.

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Addressing the planned changes to manufacturing, Mr Cook added: “We have a complex supply chain. There’s always risk in the supply chain. What we learned some time ago was that having everything in one location had too much risk with it.”

Devices sold outside of the US will continue to be made in China.

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