On
Wednesday 3rd December 2014, the Chancellor delivered his last Autumn Statement
before next May’s general election.
The
purpose of the Statement is to report on the state of the economy and outline
the government’s economic strategy, with detailed changes being announced in
the Budget.
Next
year’s Budget day is too close to the prorogation of Parliament for its impact
to be felt in time to influence the voters so Mr Osborne announced measures on
Wednesday 3rd December 2014 that might ordinarily have come in the Budget.
The
key aim of his economic policy set in 2010 was eliminating the deficit by next
year and that is only half done and more cuts in public expenditure are needed
to achieve that goal in the next Parliament.
However
much the public recognises the need for this, five years of austerity have left
most of us feeling worse off.
The
Chancellor had no scope for big hand-outs but had to offer something to sweeten
the public mood and persuade us to return him to office to finish the job.
He
began by listing what his policies had achieved.
The
economy is growing by 3% this year, faster than any other developed economy.
Business investment has grown 27% since 2010 and manufacturing is growing
faster than other sectors.
More
people are in work than ever and 80% of the new jobs are full time.
Average
wages have increased 4% over the last year and the gender pay gap is at an
all-time low.
We
may not feel the benefit yet so what could he do to cheer us up?
A
focus on housing was one response and a cut in Stamp duty for 98% of
homebuyers, paid for by increasing the duty on the most expensive homes will be
welcome, so will the sale of £1 billion worth of government-owned land to make
possible the building of 100,000 affordable homes.
Other
measures include an extra £2 billion for the NHS, and £1.2billion for GP
services, to be paid for from fines on foreign exchange dealing in the City.
The
freeze on fuel duty will continue and air passenger duty for children under 12
will be abolished.
Pension
law will be changed to enable the pensions of deceased persons to be passed to
their loved ones free of tax and there is also help for churches needing major
repairs.
The
Chancellor observed gloomy prospects for other economies, especially those in
Europe which are our major market for goods and services.
A
£45 million package will help British firms to connect with the faster growing
developing economies.
Multinational
companies that avoid tax by transferring their profits overseas now face a 25%
tax and the business rate relief on small businesses has been doubled.
The
Shadow Chancellor (who when in the latest Labour government was partly to blame
for the banking & economic crisis) was as predictably unimpressed who stated
that:‘Osborne’s pledge to balance the books by 2015 had been broken, working people are worse off and tax revenues are down.’
‘Productivity is not increasing and our exports record is poor. Bank lending to small firms has been inadequate.’
Has
the Chancellor done his best?
Will
people remember the mess the previous government left the UK in between 1997 -
2010?
The
voters will decide on Thursday 7th May 2015
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