This was a damp-squib Budget from a government at the end of the line
SIR – Jeremy Hunt’s Budget (telegraph. co.uk, March 6) was the dampest of squibs.
The cut to National Insurance in the Autumn Statement did not jump-start the economy when it came into effect in January. Why should another one do it now? Mr Hunt could have set the course for a real Conservative future: cutting the basic rate of income tax, raising personal allowances, scrapping inheritance tax, abandoning ruinous net-zero targets and building up our Armed Forces. Instead it was same old, same old.
The Tory party now faces electoral catastrophe. And it will deserve it. John Hicks
Manchester
SIR – Do Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak really believe that this Budget will close the gap between the Tories and Labour in the opinion polls? Don’t they realise they have nothing to lose by being radical?
The only hope is that the next election manifesto abandons Left-ofcentre policies and returns to Conservative principles. For example: making living off benefits as opposed to working an unattractive lifestyle choice; outlawing working from home in the Civil Service and cutting its workforce by 20 per cent; and abolishing the triple lock on pensions.
If, however, the Tories’ offer looks little different from that of Labour, voters will choose the latter on the grounds that it could hardly be worse. Richard North
Stanford Dingley, Berkshire
SIR – I am sad to say that this Budget was akin to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. The non-doms are already in the lifeboats, taking their money with them.
Christopher Hunt
Swanley, Kent
SIR – As a pensioner I’m deeply underwhelmed by the Budget. What’s the point of keeping the triple lock on pensions if personal tax allowances stay frozen? That’s simply giving with one hand and taking with the other. Ann Wright
Cambridge
SIR – The Chancellor’s claim that the NHS is the biggest reason most of us are proud to be British is at odds with many people’s experience of it.
I am proud of the principles behind the NHS and grateful for its dedicated staff. But its performance is another matter. Shouldn’t the Chancellor be investing some of the extra funding announced in his Budget in an independent, non-political review of the health service?
Jos Binns
Malmesbury, Wiltshire
SIR – I was appalled by the behaviour of MPS during the Budget speech. Their standards have dropped below gutter level.
Nigel Strofton