London Daily

Focus on the big picture.

Analysis: UK voters unlikely to share Hunt's budget optimism

Analysis: UK voters unlikely to share Hunt's budget optimism

Finance minister Jeremy Hunt tried to show that Britain's economy was turning a corner in his budget statement on Wednesday, but his chances of bolstering his Conservative Party's fortunes before the next election look limited.

Britain will now skirt a recession, official forecasters said, allowing Hunt to spend 20 billion pounds ($24.1 billion) on measures including further energy subsidies to help households, childcare to get more people working, and investment incentives for business.

But the big picture for the world's sixth-biggest economy remains one of weak growth and high debt, offering little room for fiscal manoeuvre to a government fighting to turn around its weak standing in opinion polls before an expected 2024 election.

The immediate outlook is less sombre: The economy is due to shrink by 0.2% in 2023, not 1.4% as previously thought. But government forecasters still expect living standards to fall more over the two years to March 2024 than at any point since records began in the 1950s.

The Office for Budget Responsibility also said fundamental weaknesses weighing on the economy were still being exacerbated by Brexit which has hit business investment since the 2016 referendum, and by the pandemic which caused half a million people to leave the jobs market, hobbling many firms.

"It all adds up to a situation in which Jeremy Hunt today has to work a lot harder than his predecessors just to keep debt from rising in normal times," OBR Chair Richard Hughes said. "And normal times have been hard to come by in recent years."

The OBR said there were big questions about just how many people would return to the labour market under the childcare, pension and welfare reforms that represented the key plank of the government's pro-growth budget plan.

It also said Hunt's three-year business investment incentives would bring investment forward at a cost to later years. The opposition Labour Party has promised "certainty, consistency and incentives for investment."

A snap opinion poll suggested voters were sceptical about the Conservatives' latest plan - among 3,100 people surveyed immediately after the budget by YouGov, only three in 10 thought it would be good for the economy.


UPBEAT HUNT, SCEPTICAL ANALYSTS


Hunt sought to take a more upbeat approach in his speech to parliament.

He said the economy under his watch was "proving the doubters wrong" thanks in part to the emergency measures he took late last year when he was drafted into the Treasury to fix the "mini-budget" chaos of former Prime Minister Liz Truss.

But the fiscal rules that he and current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak adopted to calm the bond market are likely to leave them with very little space for a pre-election reversal of a tax burden that is heading for a 70-year high.

The OBR said no finance minister since George Osborne created the fiscal watchdog in 2010 had faced a tighter margin for meeting a key fiscal target than Hunt, in his case getting debt as a share of economic output falling in five year's time.

Ben Zaranko, an economist with the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a non-partisan think-tank, said Hunt's 6.5 billion-pound buffer for meeting his target could be eaten up easily by another freeze in fuel duty and a top-up for the health budget.

"We're on track to meet the - relatively loose, poorly designed - fiscal rule on paper only," he said.

Nonetheless, analysts said Hunt and Sunak were probably intending to relax their grip on the public finances between now and the next election, potentially at the cost of Britain's recently restored fiscal credibility.

Andrew Goodwin, at consultancy Oxford Economics, said there was a high risk the OBR's economic forecasts would prove too optimistic, making the job of hitting the five-year debt target even more challenging and raising the temptation to make hard-to-meet, belt-tightening promises out in the future.

"If the Chancellor is put in that situation, and given the timing of the next general election, he would no doubt opt for further austerity measures that take effect in the next parliament," Goodwin said.

"It's even more important that the government builds on the measures presented today and produces a more comprehensive plan for boosting growth."

($1 = 0.8282 pounds)

($1 = 0.8283 pounds)

Newsletter

Related Articles

London Daily
0:00
0:00
Close
Boris Johnson Claims He Found Listening Device in Bathroom After Netanyahu's Visit
Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei declared today: "If Israel retaliates, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground."
Scott Jennings leaves CNN panel speechless as he tears apart Tim Walz's flimsy excuse of being "too dumb to tell the truth."
GP Accused of Murder Plot with Lethal Injection
Key Insights from Boris Johnson's Memoir 'Unleashed'
Bank of England Governor Warns of Potential Middle East Oil Shock
BBC Cancels Interview with Boris Johnson Due to Briefing Note Mix-up
Boris Johnson's Memoir Unleashes Controversial Claims
Labour Peer Lord Alli Under Investigation
Laura Kuenssberg Cancels Scheduled Interview with Boris Johnson
Conservative Leadership Candidates Propose Reforms Post-Election Defeat
UK Prime Minister Seeks Closer UK-EU Relations
Labour MP Proposes New Assisted Dying Legislation
Rise in Vaping Among Young Adults Who Never Regularly Smoked
UK Reaffirms Commitment to Falkland Islands Amid Chagos Deal
Proposal for Reusing Graves to Address Burial Space Shortages
Dominican Republic Announces Massive Deportation Operation of Haitian Migrants
EU Urges UK PM Keir Starmer to Consider Youth Mobility Scheme
British Forces Help Thwart Iranian Missile Attack on Israel
Simon Case Rejoins Garrick Club Amid Mixed Reactions
Investigation into Labour Donor Waheed Alli's Register of Interests
Iceman Drug Boss Jailed: Major Crackdown on £76M Trafficking Operation
UK Evacuates Citizens from Lebanon Amid Growing Tensions
Rise in Vaping Among Non-Smokers in England
Earth Faces Severe Geomagnetic Storm from Solar Flare
Keir Starmer’s Corruption Exposed: Bribes (Yet Again), Broken Promises, and a Rigged System Shielding the Powerful
Bank of America Outage Leaves Customers Unable to Access Accounts, Sparks Concern
Iranian Mullah Claims Israel Used Genies to Hunt Hezbollah Leader
Privacy Concerns Over AI Monitoring of UK Bank Accounts
Robert Jenrick Reveals Daughter's Middle Name as Thatcher
Badenoch Criticizes Civil Servants, Jokes They Are 'Prison-Worthy'
UK Treasury Plans Major Infrastructure Cuts
Kemi Badenoch Criticizes Civil Servants at Conservative Party Conference
Thames Mudlarking Permits Resumed with New Restrictions
Decline in Education for Youth Offenders in England
Jimmy Carter Celebrates 100th Birthday
Iran's Missile Attack on Israel: Defeated but a Significant Escalation
Iran President Lauds Missile Attack on Israel as Decisive Response
Russia Criticizes Biden's Middle East Policies After Iran Attacks Israel
US Dockworkers Strike Halts Half of Nation’s Ocean Shipping
Boris Johnson claims in memoir Queen Elizabeth II had bone cancer
Missile Attack on Israel: A Turning Point for the Ayatollah’s Regime?
Teachers in England Approve 5.5% Pay Rise
Robert Jenrick Criticized for Statements on UK Special Forces
Robert Jenrick Faces Transparency Issues Over Campaign Donations
Phillip Schofield Addresses Firing from ITV
UK Charters Evacuation Flight for Britons in Lebanon
UK Shop Prices Fall at Fastest Rate Since 2021
Keir Starmer Urged to Address Rising Energy Bills
Tom Tugendhat Warns Against Tories Turning into Reform UK
×