Rachel Reeves confirms £40,000,000 tax hikes in first Budget
Date: 2024-10-30
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is delivering the first Labour budget in 14 years, setting out the government’s spending plans and agenda for the next four years.
Addressing the Commons, confirmed the government will raise taxes by £40 billion.
Elsewhere, the Chancellor is revealing plans to put ‘more pounds in people’s pockets’, fix the NHS and grow the economy, despite warnings of tough decisions to come.
Among the announcements include a 6.7% hike in the minimum wage to £12.21 an hour, which will mean workers receive an extra £1,400 a year from April.
But this will be offset by raising national insurance contributions from employers, which businesses have argued will make it harder to hire staff and create jobs, negating the pay-rise to workers.
Also officially announced was a widely-criticised slashing of winter fuel allowance to millions of pensioners, as part of a commitment to fill a ‘£22bn black hole’ in public services left by the Tories.
The government also revealed plans to raise the price of vapes and tobacco as part of a drive to stop young people smoking, and pledged an additional £3bn annual boost to the armed forces.
The NHS also received a much-needed boost in funding, but the Chancellor warned it may not be enough to undo ’14 years of damage’ inflicted by the Conservatives.
