This afternoon I was in the Chamber to watch Jeremy Hunt deliver an Autumn Statement designed to grow our economy and build a brighter future.
The Autumn Statement for Growth will:
- Cut taxes for 27 million working people from January, cutting the main rate of National Insurance Contributions from 12% to 10%.
- Cut and simplify tax for 2 million of the self-employed, abolishing an entire class of NICs and cutting the rate of the NICs top rate from 9% to 8%.
- Boost the National Living Wage to £11.44 an hour.
- Boost pensions, in line with the Triple Lock, by 8.5%.
- Increase all working age benefits in full by 6.7%, boosting benefit payments for around 5.5 million households who receive Universal Credit.
- Get people into work by reforming welfare and toughening up work requirements.
- Increase the Local Housing Allowance for 1.6 million families.
- Cut business taxes by £11 billion - the biggest business tax cut in modern British history - by permanently enabling businesses to invest for less and offset investments against their tax bills.
- Cut business rates by freezing the small business multiplier yet again, and extending the 75% relief for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure businesses.
- Freeze alcohol duty.
- Reduce inflation further. The OBR state that the package as a whole means inflation is forecast to be lower next year than they said at the Spring Budget.
We’re also making the biggest reforms to our electricity grid since the 1950s and championing UK industry in our transition to Net Zero. Our electricity needs are expected to more than double by 2050, with more than two-thirds of power to homes and businesses being generated by renewables. We need to build the grid infrastructure to support this increase in demand.
We will halve the time to build power lines, cut average delay time for grid projects from 5 years to 6 months, and people living closest to new grid infrastructure could see discounts of up to £10,000 off their electricity bills over 10 years. Communities could also get at least £200,000 for local projects of their choice.
If you have any questions about the Autumn Statement, please contact me on [email protected].
