‘That had better not be all, Chancellor’

Readers give their verdict on Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement as the Tories finally start to cut taxes, writes Mattie Brignal

The Chancellor hailed his Autumn Statement this week as the biggest package of tax cuts since the Thatcher era, one that would boost the incomes of 27m workers.

However, despite slashing National Insurance, a record pay rise for pensioners and a higher minimum wage, many voters have been left feeling short-changed.

While some measures have been welcomed, the criticism is that Jeremy Hunt is “giving with one hand and taking with the other”.

Millions of retirees are in line for a bumper pay rise in the spring, after the Chancellor committed to the Conservatives’ “triple lock” pledge and upped the state pension by 8.5pc.

But as income tax thresholds are to freeze until 2027-28, the rise will mean more pensioners being dragged into the tax net for the first time.

David Crowtch, 74, from Mansfield, Notts, believes retirees will be paying more tax. He said: “Freezing tax thresholds trivialises the increase in the state pension. It’s unfair. They’re giving with one hand and taking with the other.”

Freezing the personal tax-free allowance at £12,570 until 2028 while bumping up the state pension means that an extra 650,000 pensioners may have to pay tax on their income next April.

Overall, the freeze will raise nearly £45bn for the Treasury, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Under the triple lock policy, the state pension rises in line with the highest of inflation, average wage growth or 2.5pc in April each year. The highest of the three is wage growth at 8.5pc.

Mr Crowtch argues that the Chancellor was right to stick to the triple lock, adding: “If you get a blip in inflation or wages, you can understand a politician saying we shouldn’t put it up as much. But if they’re the rules and they made them, then they should stick to them.”

Taxes as a share of GDP are forecast to hit a new post-war high of nearly 38pc by 2029, according to the OBR, compared to 33pc before the pandemic.

Mr Crowtch said that although he had voted Conservative all his life, he would now “never vote again”.

He said: “No one in their right mind could possibly ever vote for the reds. I’ve always voted Conservative as they are meant to be the party of low tax. But this lot in power are not looking after their core vote. If they get thumped in the election, they will deserve it.”

Christopher Way, 87, from Guildford, Surrey, said the state pension giveaway is simply “electioneering”. He added: “I think it’s bait thrown out by the Government. We’ve been through a terrible period of Covid and things are looking bad, but here they are trying to bribe people to vote Conservative with more money. I think it’s very sad.”

Other voters are disappointed the Chancellor did not go further.

Helen Webster, 68, from Woking, Surrey, said that while the increase to 8.5pc was “welcome”, the absolute size of the state pension was far too small for the percentage increase to make a big impact. She believes the Chancellor should have increased the state pension by 10pc to counteract the impact of more pensioners being taxed.

She said: “It’s never going to be a fair system, but dragging poorer people into paying tax is not something anyone wants. It affects people who are on lower incomes and who just rely on the state pension. The tax brackets shouldn’t be working against people and their incomes.” Ms Webster now says she is unlikely to vote Tory again.

One surprise was a higher-than- expected cut in National Insurance from 12pc to 10pc from January, which Mr Hunt said would save the average worker £450 a year, or £8.65 a week.

The Chancellor also cut the main rate of Class 4 self-employed National Insurance from 9pc to 8pc, leaving earners £350 better off a year on average.

However, stealth taxes and fiscal drag mean that the pay boost will amount to just £2.68 a week for some employed workers, according to analysis by wealth manager Quilter.

Kathryne O’Sullivan, a shop worker from Mr Hunt’s Farnham constituency, said that while the National Insurance cut was “a step in the right direction”, the impact on her would be negligible.

She said: “It’ll not impact me greatly, and it’s not going to mean I give up my second job. With the price of everything going up, the National Insurance cut is not really going to make that much of a difference, in all honesty.”

Tory voter Ms O’Sullivan is now undecided about the next election, but said she was “watching closely”.

Another life-long Tory voter, Amanda Owen, 56, said she would rather reluctantly vote Conservative over Labour.

However, Ms Owen, who runs a flower stall in Rishi Sunak’s Richmond constituency, was unimpressed by the cuts to National Insurance.

She said: “I’m not bothered about it, but I am bothered by the minimum wage going up a pound. That’s going to cost businesses like mine. Businesses are struggling as it is – and you’re actually going to end up with more people out of work. Cutting VAT would have made more of a difference than extending full expenses.” Mr Hunt’s package of