Director Will Tanner writes for City AM, outlining his response to the 2021 Budget and Spending Review. He writes:
”Sunak had a much easier set of choices than he led us to believe. The OBR’s growth upgrade to 6 per cent for 2022 and scarring downgrade from 3 per cent to 2 per cent handed the Chancellor £50bn a year extra to play with. He did not have to choose between real terms increases for almost every department and delivering a surplus by 2024/5.
How he used that fiscal firepower was notable: reducing the taper rate on Universal Credit, increasing the minimum wage, investing in family hubs, and cutting both beer duty and high street business rates. These strengthen the social fabric of our communities. He also started his long term vision with skills, apprenticeships and R&D spending. But there were no long-term plans for business rates reform, planning, council tax or online sales tax. Road pricing and carbon taxes were also missing.
You can read the full response here.
