Following Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s ‘mini budget’ statement in the
House of Commons, the Institute for Public Policy Research reacts
to the major announcements and warns that despite some big steps
in the right direction, more investment will likely be needed.
Carys Roberts, IPPR Executive Director, said:
“The Chancellor has listened to calls to invest in young people
and in green homes. But as a package, this was more of a
cut-price deal than a new deal.
"We're facing a deep and uncertain recession that could leave 1
in 10 unemployed by the end of the year. But today's
announcements fall far short of the investment needed to both
protect viable businesses and create new jobs.
"The Chancellor also made some strange choices in his priorities.
His £3.8 billion stamp duty holiday is good news for estate
agents and homeowners looking to move, but will push up prices
and amounts to more than all the support announced for young
people today.
“So too, £10 off a meal out will not turn around the fortunes of
the economy and could have been spent ensuring families have
enough to put food on the table by giving proper support to those
who need it most.
"We cannot muddle through the deepest economic recession in
living memory, hoping at best to return to normal. The government
needed to set out a plan to boost spending, protect jobs, and
build the economy of the future. Instead, this was a mini-budget
in every sense."
Luke Murphy, IPPR Associate Director and head of the
Environmental Justice Commission, said:
On climate, energy and infrastructure:
“The confirmation of the investment in home energy efficiency is
welcome but overall what the Chancellor announced today falls
well short of what’s needed with nothing of substance announced
for sustainable public transport, nature schemes such as tree
planting or low-carbon heat.
“The announcements today will neither deliver the green recovery
or the job creation that the UK desperately needs.”
On housing:
“Time and again on housing, the government reaches for the wrong
policies with the wrong priorities. The stamp duty holiday sounds
positive but in reality, it will benefit existing homeowners the
most as they benefit from higher prices.
“This policy will not build a single additional affordable home.
These changes, combined with the loosening of planning
restrictions which the government has announced, will do nothing
to deliver the high-quality, secure and affordable homes that the
country needs.”
Clare McNeil, IPPR Associate Director who heads its Work and the
Welfare State team, said:
On jobs:
“The £9.4bn 'job retention bonus' is a halfway house reform - not
a proper wage subsidy and not enough to persuade an employer keep
someone in work for six months if they are in financial distress.
Instead the Job Retention Scheme should be reformed and extended
to promote part-time working.
On Kickstart:
“It’s a very welcome first step. But we needed more measures to
keep under-18 school leavers in education or training - for
example, the government could have extended maintenance support
loans into FE to incentivise more young people to go to college
rather than try to get a job, and could reform Universal Credit
to encourage this.
“IPPR has called for £1.9bn to go into the apprenticeship levy
fund and to subsidise the wages of apprentices. What the
government has committed to apprenticeships is a fraction of
this, which is disappointing given the strong evidence for their
value in keeping young people 'earning and learning'.”
