Steve Brine was in the House as the Chancellor delivered a Spring Statement today that puts billions of pounds back into the pockets of hard-working people – unveiling a new Tax Plan to ease the rising cost of living and to deliver the biggest cut to personal taxes in a quarter of a century.
Rishi Sunak announced that National Insurance starting thresholds will rise to £12,570 from July, meaning hard-working people across the UK will keep more of what they earn before they start paying personal taxes.
The cut, worth over £6 billion, will benefit almost 30 million working people with a typical employee saving over £330 in the year from July. This means the UK now has some of the most generous tax thresholds in the world.
Mr Sunak also announced that fuel duty for petrol and diesel will be cut by 5p per litre from 6pm tonight (23 March) to help drivers across the UK with rising costs – a tax cut worth £2.4 billion. This is the biggest cut ever on all fuel duty rates and means a one-car family will now save on average £100.
To let people keep more of what they earn, the basic rate of income tax will also be cut by 1p in the pound in 2024, when the OBR expect inflation to be back under control, debt falling sustainably and the economy growing. The cut is worth £5 billion for workers, savers and pensioners and will be the first cut to the basic rate in 16 years.
The Chancellor also set out a series of measures to help businesses boost investment, innovation, and growth – including a £1,000 increase to Employment Allowance to benefit around half a million smaller firms.
Steve Brine MP said; “My constituents are smart. They know the economic reality of our country’s finances right now and the Chancellor was honest with them today.
“It is obviously good news that unemployment is falling but, even if you’re in work, cost of living pressures are really biting. So on top of the £9bn package we announced last month, which people can see now feeding through into the discount we’ve applied to council tax bills, we’ve seen additional help today in Spring Statement.
“The fuel duty cut - by 5p a litre for the next year - will help as will the vastly increased targeted help through local council for the poorest households with their household fuel bills.
“You can never spend what you don’t have and rising rates make borrowing much less attractive so we have to stand with people at this difficult time and protect our investment in the country’s number one priority which is the the NHS.”
Pictured; Steve talking to ITV Meridian in Westminster after the Spring Statement.
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