This was the second Autumn Statement delivered by Jeremy Hunt.

There had been much speculation about rumoured tax cuts in the few days leading up to the Chancellor’s statement. This was because Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts surfaced which showed that UK borrowing for this year alone was expected to be £17 billion less than projected in March 2023. This is as a consequence of the impact of fiscal drag on the tax burden of UK taxpayers, resulting from the previously announced freeze in personal allowances, tax and National Insurance thresholds until 2028.

The combination of high inflation leading to greater wage settlements across the UK and the freezing of allowances means that the Treasury is expected to receive a £52 billion windfall between now and 2028. This is far higher than the Treasury forecast when the freeze in allowances was announced in November 2022 and means that the government has unexpected headroom to cut taxes now.

Jeremy Hunt went to great lengths to say that his measures announced today would not fuel the UK inflation rate, whilst providing an £11 billion cut in business taxes, and ensuring that the enduring message that work pays was backed up with reductions to the amount of National Insurance contributions that employees and self employed people pay.

Summary of the key announcements

There were 110 measures announced in total and so our summary covers those that we expect will be of most interest to our readers.

Click on the icons below to read more about the main points outlined by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

If you want to find out more on any of the matters highlighted, please speak to the M+A Partners team who will be very pleased to discuss them with you.

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