Britain | Mixed picture

Britain’s chancellor offers tax cuts and fiscal trickery

A pre-election giveaway from Jeremy Hunt

The Chancellor prepares for the Autumn Statement 2023.
Photograph: Kirsty O'Connor/HM Treasury

Delivering his autumn statement on November 22nd, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor of the exchequer (pictured), argued that Britain’s economy has turned a corner. Declaring victory in the battle against inflation, he unveiled a fiscal loosening worth £18bn ($22.5bn), or 0.7% of GDP, mostly comprising cuts to business and personal taxation. According to Mr Hunt lower inflation has given him the space to cut taxes. In reality that space has come from higher, not lower, inflation and from some questionable accounting.

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Tax cuts and fiscal trickery”

From the November 25th 2023 edition

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