Chancellor Jeremy Hunt promised an “eye-watering” budget, and yesterday he was as good as his word.
But the tears are ours, not his. As the second-wealthiest man in the Cabinet, he’s crying all the way to the bank.
Public and political pressure forced him to save the pensions triple lock and uprate of benefits by inflation – but he gives with one hand and takes away with the other.
From April, the average household energy bill will rise by £500 a year to a staggering £3,000 – 60 quid a week! Lifting the fuel cap on prices will hit old folk and the poorest hard.
With thresholds frozen, more people will pay more income tax. And as interest rates climb, mortgage repayments will continue to soar. Council taxes will surge.
“Jeremiah” Hunt poses as the pensioner’s saviour, but he promised to publish early next year the results of a “review” of the qualifying age. That is a euphemistic way of saying that the Government will raise the state pension age, making millions wait
longer for the income in old age that they paid for while working.
The Tories hiked the state pension age to 66, and plan to increase it further to 67 between 2026 and 2028. Current law allows it to rise even further, to 68, between 2044 and 2046.
What’s the betting that the Tories accelerate this timetable yet again, citing the rising number of those eligible? A racing certainty.
Inflation -linked increases in benefits are welcome, but here too there is a catch.
Annoyed by the rise in economically inactive people of working age, Hunt has ordered another “review” of Universal Credit.
Around 600,000 more people on UC will be brought in for meetings with “work coaches” to increase their hours of work. This sounds like get back to work or lose your money.
Like every Budget that has gone before, Jeremiah Hunt’s generosity begins to fall apart at the seams once you begin to unpick it.
But what else do you expect from the Chancellor with the chillingly thin, know-all smile?
