A Bristol-based economics professor has described Kwasi Kwarteng’s latest economic policies as “a budget for the rich”, warning that many Bristolians will see their mortgages become "unaffordable" if their fixed term ends within the next two years.
Prof Jo Michell said that “everyone but those in the top five percent is going to be worse off” under plans announced by the Chancellor last Friday, with modest gains from a 1p cut in the basic tax rate wiped out by cost of living increases plus a tanking Pound – unless the Government makes an urgent U-turn.
Prof Michell, associate professor of economics at UWE Bristol, called the £200 to £500 tax boost most earners can expect “the only cash positive for average people”. But this modest gain will not increase spending power, he explained, because “that will be offset because they’ve frozen the thresholds at which tax rates apply”.
