Budget is set for a week after Brexit – if new deal is agreed
SAJID JAVID will hold his first post-brexit Budget on Nov 6, provided Boris Johnson can deliver a new deal with the European Union.
Announcing the plans ahead of the Queen’s Speech yesterday, the Chancellor said he would use his first Budget to “shape the economy and deliver our infrastructure revolution”.
The Office for Budget Responsibility, the independent economic forecaster, has been told to provide economic forecasts on the basis that the UK agrees a new deal and leaves on Oct 31.
However, if Britain leaves the EU without a deal on Oct 31, the Treasury said it would outline its approach and “take early action to support the economy, businesses and households”.
Mr Javid would be expected to make a statement to the House of Commons in the days before Oct 31, if the UK was on track for a no-deal Brexit. This would be followed by a Budget in the following weeks, a Treasury source said.
If the UK leaves with a deal, a Nov 6 Budget is expected to showcase preelection pledges including investment in infrastructure and tax changes.
Mr Javid said: “This will be the first Budget after leaving the EU. I will be setting out our plan to shape the economy for the future and triggering the start of our infrastructure revolution. This is the right and responsible thing to do – we must get on with governing.”
The Chancellor used his speech at the Conservative party conference to say he was considering cutting inheritance tax and has suggested that he wants to raise the threshold at which people start paying national insurance.
During his Spending Round last month, Mr Javid also pledged a “decade of renewal” after years of austerity as he announced extra cash for health, schools and the police.
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the economic think tank, warned Mr Javid against breaking fiscal rules to boost public spending. He said: “There’s no point in fiscal rules which are regularly missed, abandoned and changed, as will happen again at the Budget. We need a properly credible and sustainable fiscal framework, not yet another set of targets.”
John Mcdonnell, the shadow chancellor, said the Budget would be “more of an electioneering stunt than a Budget to rebuild our stalling economy and reset the direction of our country”.
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