Martin Lewis has branded the Government’s mini-budget ‘staggering’ as he reacted to the announcements from the Chancellor today.
Kwasi Kwarteng confirmed in the House of Commons that the Tories will cut Income Tax, stamp duty, National Insurance and Corporation Tax amid the ongoing cost of living crisis. Other moves, such as abolishing the top rate of Income Tax and scrapping the cap on bankers’ bonuses, have already come under fire for benefitting the richest while failing to do enough for struggling families.
MoneySavingExpert founder Martin has previously had strong words for the Government over the cost of living crisis, branding them “zombies” and urging them to “wake up” and take action on the energy bill price cap rises back in August . And the financial expert didn’t hold back as he reacted to the measures as they were announced by the Chancellor.
READ MORE: How the mini-budget affects you - including benefits, tax cuts and stamp duty
Posting on Twitter , Martin said: “That really was quite a staggering statement from a Conservative party government. Huge new borrowing at the same time as cutting taxes.
“It's all aimed at growing the economy. I really hope it works. I really worry what happens if it doesn't,” he added.
Martin added that the Government appeared to be “clearly trying to leave the legacy of the last administration behind”, referring to the Chancellor’s repeated phrase that the country was “at the beginning of a new era”. The expert also suggested that the Tories were “claiming [the] good bits, disowning [the] bad” from their time in power.
The MSE founder also shared a Tweet from Paul Johnson, director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, which read: “£45 billion of tax cuts. This is the biggest tax cutting event since 1972.
“[1972 Conservative Chancellor Anthony] Barber's ‘dash for growth’ then ended in disaster. That Budget is now known as the worst of modern times. Genuinely, I hope this one works very much better.”
In a video explaining how the stamp duty cut would work as well as how National Insurance and Income Tax changes would affect people, Martin described the new measures as a “gamble” and admitted that it would be “a worry” if they did not pay off in the future.
He said: “All of this will put money in people’s pockets, which taken in isolation is of course a good thing. The question is the level of public spending that will be able to continue in future - and there is a big increase in Government borrowing.
“So if the gamble is right - and I hope, I always hope that what the Government does helps everybody - that low taxes will grow the economy and everybody will get the money back in return, then this is a good thing. And if the gamble is wrong, and we won’t see the growth that is needed to pay for this, then that is a worry going forward,” he added.
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