MP, Labour’s Shadow
Chancellor of the Exchequer, responding to today’s
Budget, said:
“The Chancellor’s Budget has lifted the lid on 14 years of Tory
economic failure.
“Taxes are still rising, prices are still going up in the shops,
and mortgages are higher.
“Nothing has said today changes that.
It’s time for change. It’s time for an election.”
Ends
BACKGROUND BRIEFING – Spring Budget 2024:
Households are £870 worse off under Sunak’s tax plan on
average, giving 5p for every 10p being taken from you:
- This budget confirms the UK has the highest tax burden in 70
years, rising every year and is higher at the end of the forecast
than today.[i]
- OBR figures show that for every 10p working people will pay
in tax under the Tories plan, they will only be getting 5p
back.[ii]
- That includes OBR’s revised estimate for the impact of tax
threshold freezes, that raise £41.1bn over the forecast
period.[iii] It will create 3.7
million new taxpayers.[iv]
Worst parliament for living standards on record:[v]
- The OBR confirms this will be the worst Parliament on record
for living standards. It will be the only Parliament on record
where living standards have fallen.[vi]
- Real pay has gone up by just £17 a week over 13 years of
Conservative government. Under Labour, wages rose by £183 a week
over 13 years.[vii][viii][ix]
This budget reveals that growth in GDP per capita is
negative this year and has been downgraded in four years of the
forecast period:[x]
- The OBR confirmed Rishi’s recession with GDP per capita
smaller than when Sunak became Prime Minister.[xi]
- The latest ONS figures show seven consecutive quarters of
falling GDP per capita, the longest period of stagnation since
the 1950s.[xii]
- Real GDP per capita is expected to be lower at the end of
this year than they were at the start of the
Parliament.[xiii]
- Projections for net migration have been revised up by 70k
with higher migration the key measure pushing on overall
GDP.[xiv] Meanwhile, the
participation of the domestic workforce has been revised down and
unemployment is still rising.[xv]
The Conservatives have wrecked the public finances:
-
Borrowing has been revised up.
- Debt as a share of GDP is at its highest level since the
1960s.[xvi]
- Debt interest is at its highest level since 1948.[xvii]
Sources:
-
[ii] Calculated using the
£21.4bn of tax cuts calculated by the OBR, compared to a total
being raised by 2028/29 of £41.1 from threshold freezes and
£4.8bn from council tax. The OBR’s estimate of a £5bn council
tax bombshell from Tory policies this parliament as included in
the OBR policy measures database https://obr.uk/data/
-
[iv] OBR EFO, March 2024,
Table 3.7
