It has been dubbed the “back-to-work Budget” as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt seeks solutions to reinvigorate the post-Covid economy with sweeteners encouraging people back into employment.
So, what does Hunt’s first official budget this mean for the pound in your pocket - and local council services already ravaged by years of Conservative austerity cuts?
There were also major announcements in the Commons on the pension pot allowance, childcare assistance, the energy cap, business tax breaks, fuel duty and a £5 billion defence funding increase.
Hunt forecasts no recession and to “halve inflation”, but is it all it seems?
It comes after a YouGov polls found nearly half of respondents were “not confident at all” this year’s budget would with their living costs.
The Leader podcast’s joined by Evening Standard deputy political editor David Bond, who’s been examining the dense budget policy documents at Parliament.
In part two, we speak with local government expert Antonia Jennings, from the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, to discuss the impact on services where you live and how some of London’s most vulnerable families are seeking emergency warmth in the capital’s churches, among public buildings themselves struggling with fuel bills.
Listen above, and find us on your Spotify Daily Drive or wherever you stream your podcasts.
