00:00 the biggest package of tax cuts to be implemented since the 1980s, an autumn statement for a
00:06 country that has turned a corner, an autumn statement for growth, which I commend to the
00:10 House.
00:13 This is Jeremy Hunt's second autumn statement. His 2022 statement came shortly after he replaced
00:19 Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor of the Exchequer, following his predecessor's controversial
00:25 so-called mini-budget. With his party far behind in the polls, and a general election
00:32 on the horizon next year, Jeremy Hunt will hope that the economic measures announced
00:37 today will prove popular enough to start closing the gap with Labour.
00:44 Here are five of his flagship policy announcements from the statement.
00:49 I can announce that we are abolishing class 2 national insurance altogether, saving the
00:56 average self-employed person £192 a year. I'm going to go further and cut the main
01:02 rate of employee national insurance by two percentage points, from 12% to 10%.
01:10 Today I confirm we'll go further and accept the Low Pay Commission recommendation to increase
01:15 the national living wage by 9.8% to £11.44 an hour.
01:20 Today we honour our commitment to the triple lock in full. From April 24, we will increase
01:26 the full new state pension by 8.5% to £221.20 a week, worth up to £900 more a year.
01:37 I have decided to freeze all alcohol duty until August 1 next year. That means no increase
01:43 in duty on beer, cider, wine or spirits. We'll provide a further £1.3 billion of funding
01:52 to offer extra help to the 300,000 people who've been unemployed for over a year without
01:58 any sickness or disability. But we will ask for something in return.
02:05 If after 18 months of intensive support, job seekers have not found a job, we'll roll
02:10 out a programme requiring them to take part in mandatory work placement to increase their
02:15 skills and improve their employability. And if they choose not to engage with the work
02:20 search process for six months, we will close their case and stop their benefits.
02:29 In response, Hunt's Labour counterpart, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, accused the government
02:35 of 13 years of economic failure.
02:38 We were told that this was to be an autumn statement for growth, but the economy is now
02:46 forecast to be £40 billion smaller by 2027 than the Chancellor said back in March. Growth
02:55 revives down next year, the year after and the year after that too. The Chancellor claims
03:03 that the economy has turned a corner, yet the truth is that under the Conservatives,
03:09 growth has hit a dead end.
03:12 Today's tax cuts and wage and pension increases are designed to convince people that they
03:18 will be more well off under a Conservative government. But with the Office for Budget
03:23 Responsibility downgrading its growth forecasts and estimating a record-breaking reduction
03:29 in living standards over the next two years, it's not yet clear whether Hunt's policies
03:34 will be enough to sway voters.
03:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments