Hunt: ‘A bit more tax’ for all to balance the books

Jeremy Hunt has said everyone will need to pay “a bit more tax” after this week’s budget as he warned “sacrifices” are required across the board to get the economy back on track.

However, the Chancellor insisted it is “not just going to be bad news” on Thursday, stressing he is keen to show the British people “the way through” the “difficult” circumstances at hand.

Mr Hunt has declared he will be playing Scrooge as he sets out his vision to restore financial “stability”, with a focus on delivering “certainty” to families and businesses in the wake of the market turmoil sparked by his predecessor’s £45 billion tax-cutting bonanza.

He has said “people with the broadest shoulders will bear the heaviest burden” as he seeks to fill a so-called black hole in the public finances and is understood to be weighing up a cut to the threshold at which the highest earners start paying the top rate of tax.

He acknowledged during a round of broadcast interviews yesterday that everybody will see a greater burden going forward.

On who will be required to bear the brunt of the extra costs, he said the government will be asking “everyone for sacrifices”, but said Britain is a “compassionate” country, insisting “there’s only so much you can ask from people on the very lowest incomes”.

Jeremy Hunt.