Sunak to face questions on budget after vowing to build ‘stronger economy’

Published

4 years ago

October 27, 2021

admin

Rishi Sunak will hit the airwaves to sell his budget later, after it was warned that the chancellor’s economic set piece will leave the poorest families “far worse off”.

Having vowed to build “a stronger economy for the British people” after the coronavirus crisis in his address on Wednesday, Mr Sunak will face questions about his plans for the nation’s finances in a series of broadcast interviews.

MPs will also get the chance to give their views, with the budget debate continuing in the Commons.

The chancellor warned of “challenging” months ahead due to the continuing COVID pandemic and rising inflation as he delivered his budget.

Promising to provide “help for working families with the cost of living”, Mr Sunak announced he would lower the taper rate of Universal Credit from 63% to 55%.

The move means that, for every extra £1 someone earns, their Universal Credit will be reduced by 55p rather than 63p.

Mr Sunak also announced a new post-Brexit system of alcohol duties, including a lower rate of tax on draught beer and cider to boost pubs.

And with petrol prices having hit a record high across the UK, the chancellor cancelled a planned rise in fuel duty.

In a bid to support high streets, Mr Sunak unveiled a new year-long 50% business rates discount for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.

Given the budget was delivered amid the backdrop of a continuing cost of living crisis that is putting pressure on household budgets, particular attention was paid to measures to try to ease the strain on people’s finances.

But delivering its snap assessment of the chancellor’s budget, the Resolution Foundation suggested the bottom fifth of households will be worse off to the tune of £280 a year because of welfare cuts and tax increases.

The think tank said a typical worker on £29,000 could also end up worse off as rising inflation – which is predicted to peak at 4.4% in March – will “all but end income growth next year” as the cost of living goes up.

Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said the reduction in the Universal Credit taper would “soften, rather than tackle, the cost of living crisis facing millions of families across the UK today”.

He continued: “The welcome £3bn boost to Universal Credit will have offset some of the losses from the £6bn cut that took effect earlier this month.

“But while some higher-earning couples on Universal Credit are likely to be better off, the poorest families in the UK will still be far worse off over the coming months.”

The Institute for Fiscal Studies, which will deliver its full verdict on the budget later, said people will not necessarily feel better off.

“Inflation is going to head up to 4%, even 5%. We have big tax rises coming next April,” said the research institute’s director Paul Johnson in the immediate aftermath on Wednesday.

“The economy’s not really growing very fast, so it’s likely on average people’s incomes will only be crawling over the next three, four, even five years and certainly some people, particularly those whose wages don’t go up as fast, will be feeling worse off.

“So this is not a period of people feeling better I’m afraid.”

Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said “never has a chancellor asked the British people to pay so much for so little”, describing the budget as a “shocking missed opportunity by a government that is completely out of touch”.

“As he hits working people with the highest sustained tax burden in peacetime, he’s giving a tax cut to bankers who like to take short-haul flights while sipping Champagne,” she said.

“After taking £6bn out of the pockets of some of the poorest people in this country, he is expecting them to cheer today at being given £2bn to compensate.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who tested positive for COVID on Wednesday morning and therefore missed the budget, accused Mr Sunak of doing “nothing about the cost-of-living crisis”.

In the wake of the budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility said the overall tax burden was at its highest since the early 1950s, towards the end of Labour Prime Minister Clement Atlee’s time in Downing Street.

The chancellor acknowledged this in his budget speech, telling MPs: “I don’t like it, but I cannot apologise for it, it’s the result of the unprecedented crisis we faced and the extraordinary action we took in response.”

And in a bid to reassure Tory MPs, Mr Sunak added: “By the end of this parliament, I want taxes to be going down not up.”

The chancellor later addressed the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers – and it is understood he tried to further reassure them on this point, telling them that he wants to use “every marginal pound” in the future to cut taxes rather than increase spending.

Politics

Sir Keir Starmer could be ousted as PM within months, two senior Labour MPs tell Sky News

Published

3 hours ago

July 3, 2025

admin

No 10 backs Chancellor Rachel Reeves and says she 'is going nowhere' after tearful appearance in Commons

Two senior Labour MPs have suggested the prime minister may have to go within months if the government continues to perform poorly.

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates said his sources – a member of the government and a prominent politician – have “put Sir Keir Starmer on notice”.

Both warned that, if Labour performs badly in next May’s elections across Wales, Scotland and London, it could mark the end of his time in Downing Street.

Coates added: “The level of unhappiness and despair in parts of the Labour Party is so striking that right now, on the first anniversary, I am hearing from ministers in government that Starmer might have to go in months.”

Reform UK is surging in the polls in Wales, while Labour faces a threat from left-wing parties such as the Greens in London.

It comes as the prime minister made it clear that Rachel Reeves has his “complete support” as chancellor and remains integral to his project, Sky News’s political editor Beth Rigby understands.

She looked visibly upset during Prime Minister’s Questions, with a spokesperson claiming she had been affected by a “personal matter”.

A day earlier, Sir Keir’s controversial welfare bill was passed despite a sizeable rebellion from Labour MPs, with major U-turns meaning a new £5bn black hole has appeared in the country’s finances.

One senior figure told Rigby that the pair were as “as close politically” as any chancellor and prime minister have ever been.

“She is going absolutely nowhere,” they added.

Ms Reeves’s tears sent markets spiralling, with the value of the pound and long-term government bonds falling sharply.

Later in the day Sir Keir, said Ms Reeves will be chancellor for a “very long time to come”.

The prime minister said it was “absolutely wrong” to suggest her tearful appearance in the Commons related to the welfare U-turn.

“It’s got nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with what’s happened this week. It was a personal matter for her,” he said while speaking to the BBC’s podcast Political Thinking with Nick Robinson.

“I’m not going to intrude on her privacy by talking to you about that. It is a personal matter.”

Asked if she will remain in post, he said: “She will be chancellor by the time this is broadcast, she will be chancellor for a very long time to come, because this project that we’ve been working on to change the Labour party, to win the election, change the country, that is a project which the chancellor and I’ve been working on together.”

He said Ms Reeves has done a “fantastic job” and added: “She and I work together, we think together. In the past, there have been examples – I won’t give any specific – of chancellors and prime ministers who weren’t in lockstep. We’re in lockstep.”

Politics

Starmer to set out 10-year vision for NHS

Published

3 hours ago

July 3, 2025

admin

Starmer to set out 10-year vision for NHS

Sir Keir Starmer will set out his 10-year vision for the NHS in what the government says is “one of the most seismic shifts” in the health service’s history.

He will pledge three main facets of the plan: moving care into the community, digitising the NHS, and a focus on sickness prevention.

The prime minister will announce neighbourhood health services will be rolled out across England to improve access to the NHS and to shift care out of overstrained hospitals.

PM ‘might have to go in months’ – politics latest

Sir Keir has already promised thousands more GPs will be trained, and to end the 8am “scramble” for an appointment.

He also previously said his government will bring the NHS into the digital age, with “groundbreaking” new tools to support GPs rolled out over the next two years – including AI to take notes, draft letters and enter data.

And he will promise new contracts that will encourage and allow GP practices to cover a wider geographical area, so small practices will get more support.

Unite, one of the UK’s largest healthcare unions, welcomed the plan cautiously but said staff need to be the focus to ensure people are better looked after.

‘Reform or die’

Sir Keir said: “The NHS should be there for everyone, whenever they need it.

“But we inherited a health system in crisis, addicted to a sticking plaster approach, and unable to face up to the challenges we face now, let alone in the future.

“That ends now. Because it’s reform or die.”

He said the government’s plan “will fundamentally rewire and futureproof our NHS, so that it puts care on people’s doorsteps, harnesses game-changing tech and prevents illness in the first place”.

The PM said it would not be an “overnight fix”, but claimed Labour are “already turning the tide on years of decline”, pointing towards more than four million extra appointments, 1,900 more GPs, and waiting lists at a two-year low.

“But there’s more to come,” he promised. “This government is giving patients easier, quicker and more convenient care, wherever they live.”

Neighbourhood health services

The newly announced neighbourhood health services will provide “pioneering teams” in local communities, so patients can more conveniently access a full range of healthcare services close to home.

Local areas will be encouraged to trial innovative schemes like community outreach door-to-door to detect early signs of illness and reduce pressure on GPs and A&E.

The aim is to eventually have new health centres open 12 hours a day, six days a week to offer GP services as well as diagnostics, post-operative care and rehab.

They will also offer services like debt advice, employment support, stop smoking help or weight management.

More NHS dentists

Dentists will also be part of the plan, with dental care professionals part of the neighbourhood teams.

Dental “therapists” will carry out check-ups, treatments and referrals, while dental nurses could give education and advice to parents or work with schools and community groups.

Newly qualified dentists will be required to practice in the NHS for a minimum period, which they have said will be three years.

Politics

‘Trust and confidence lost’ over grooming gang failures in Manchester, watchdog warns

Published

3 hours ago

July 3, 2025

admin

'Trust and confidence lost' over grooming gang failures in Manchester, watchdog warns

Despite making “significant improvements”, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has lost the “trust and confidence” of some victims of grooming gangs, according to a report by the police watchdog.

Michelle Skeer, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, said that since 2019, when GMP started to review its non-recent child sexual exploitation investigations, “the force has improved its understanding and approach to investigating allegations of child criminal and sexual exploitation”.

The document, published today, said police have live investigations into “multi-victim, multi-offender” child sexual exploitation inquiries, involving 714 victims and survivors, and 1,099 suspects.

Grooming gangs scandal timeline

But despite recording improvements, a report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) also identified:

• Various training gaps within the investigation team
• Lack of consistency in evaluating case files between social care, health and police
• Failures to initially support victims meant they had “lost trust and confidence” in police

The report was commissioned by the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham in 2024 to evaluate whether police, councils and health services can protect children from sexual exploitation in the future.

Its release comes days after Sir Keir Starmer announced he was launching a new national inquiry into grooming gangs after previously arguing one was not necessary,

The findings were issued as the final part of the CSE (child sexual exploitation) Assurance Review process which started in 2017. The first three reports examined non-recent child sexual exploitation in Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale.

Mr Skeer said that the force has been trying to improve its service to those who have experienced sexual exploitation, but previous failings have badly affected trust in GMP.

He said: “For some, trust and confidence in the police had been lost, and the force would not be able to rectify their experiences.

“It is vital that improvements are led by victims’ experiences, and if they do come forward, they are supported, protected and taken seriously.”

A recent report by Baroness Casey found a significant over-representation of Asian men who are suspects in grooming gangs in Greater Manchester, adding though authorities are in “denial” more needs to be done to understand why this is the case.

Inspectors also said there were “training gaps” in some investigation teams and issues with data sharing, with local councils sometimes not willing to provide detectives with information, leading to “significant delays in investigations” into grooming gangs.

It cites problems with intelligence provided by Manchester City Council, which took months to arrive and “was so heavily redacted that some pages contained only a few words”, the report said.

GMP is the only force in the country to set up a dedicated team to investigate grooming gangs. Called the Child Sexual Exploitation Major Investigation Team (CSE MIT) it has about 100 staff and a ringfenced budget.

In October 2024, the force told inspectors there were 59 live multi-victim, multi-offender child sexual exploitation investigations, of which 13 were being managed by the CSE MIT.

The report adds: “The force fully accepts that it made mistakes in the past.

“It has taken positive and effective steps to learn from these mistakes and improve how it investigates recent and non-recent child sexual exploitation.”

Separately, the Baird Inquiry published in July 2024 found officers at GMP were abusing their power – making unlawful arrests, unlawful and demeaning strip searches, sometimes treating victims as perpetrators, and traumatising those who have suffered sexual abuse or domestic violence.