Make no mistake, the contents of this financial statement are hitting the ‘just about managing’ middle classes devastatingly hard. No jam in sight anywhere for the JAMs… By freezing the basic and higher rate income tax thresholds until 2028, the Treasury hopes to raise £6 billion, as this stealth tax continues to drag millions into higher tax rates as inflation runs rife. If you are a dual-earning family with children, it is easy to see why this will truly hit your spending power. Earnings hammered on both sides while childcare costs soar and mortgages rise to five per cent, unlikely to fall again. Inflation hitting every bill and the energy cap rising by £500.
With all of us feeling a lot poorer over the next 18 months, a win in the next general election for the Tories still feels unlikely, as voters will be looking for someone to blame. Their big hope — and ours, economically — is that yesterday they finally began restoring fiscal credibility, economic stability and controlling inflation. There were few other places Rishi Sunak could raid, other than Britain’s largest cohort of taxpayers. At least the majority of spending cuts were shunted to be announced after the next election in the hope that if our economy recovers, they will never be enacted.
