Handbag among Cabinet’s £1,500 parting gifts for PM
of the tight controls on public spending imposed by outgoing Chancellor Philip Hammond.
Mr Hammond cut the deficit – the difference between public spending and Government income – to a 17-year low.
Public sector net borrowing was £24.7billion in the last financial year, having peaked at £153.1billion in 2009-10.
Mr Johnson has already said he would be prepared to increase borrowing to fund “great infrastructure projects” but allies say he is also open to pausing or even temporarily reversing Mr Hammond’s drive to get borrowing down to zero so he can fund tax cuts.
Mr Johnson has promised to raise the 40p income tax threshold from £50,000 to £80,000, which would cost £9billion, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and to raise the national insurance threshold to £12,500 to help low earners, at a cost of £11billion.
He wants to increase the minimum wage and restore free TV licences for the over-75s. And he A TEARFUL Theresa May was presented with a £650 Liberty handbag by Cabinet ministers yesterday as she held her final meeting in Downing Street.
She was also given a £495 Lalique necklace and a canvas clutch bag after Environment Secretary Michael Gove organised a whip round.
It is thought the gifts from the PM’s top team cost almost £1,500 and insiders claimed Mr Gove picked them out with his columnist wife Sarah Vine.
As Mrs May’s three-year reign drew to a close Cabinet members plans to reverse cuts to policing with a £1.1billion cash boost to hire 20,000 more officers. He plans to pump £4.6billion into the budget for English schools.
Mr Johnson said last month that he is also keen to shake up the property market by cutting stamp duty.
Proposals being considered include a reduction in the tax for all homes sold under £500,000 and slashing the current rate paid for homes worth over £1.5million from 12 per cent to seven per cent. clapped and banged on the table in a show of appreciation.
She thanked her Cabinet for “all they had done during her premiership” – insisting it “had done much to improve people’s lives”.
David Lidington, her de facto deputy, praised Mrs May’s “great dedication to public service and her commitment to the union”.
A Downing Street source said it was a “genuinely nice ending”, while a Cabinet source said Mrs May was “tearful” during the 90-minute meeting. Property experts would like to see him axe stamp duty completely for downsizers in order to encourage older people to free up larger family houses by moving to smaller homes.
Rob Houghton, chief executive of Reallymoving.com, said: “Since downsizers account for just seven per cent of stamp duty contributions, this proposal wouldn’t be disastrous for the Treasury.
“When a larger house gets sold it enables a chain of transactions and I believe the lost stamp duty revenue would be more than recovered by boosted transaction levels across the market, not to mention the release of vast equity by over-65s which has been locked into property for decades with no benefit to the wider economy.”
Mr Johnson’s £4.6billion commitment on education spending would see £5,000 spent on every secondary school pupil and £4,000 for primary pupils.
His infrastructure plans include reviewing the HS2 rail link being planned between London and the North and possibly scrapping it, saving tens of billions. But he also