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British Chancellor Hunt Prepares 'Carrot and Stick' Budget

© AP Photo / Kirsty Wigglesworth / Artist Kaya Mar holds his painting of Britain's Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Britain's Prime Minister Rishi SunakArtist Kaya Mar holds his painting of Britain's Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
Artist Kaya Mar holds his painting of Britain's Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - Sputnik International, 1920, 09.03.2023
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Jeremy Hunt, the unofficial leader of the Conservative Party's anti-Brexit faction, heralded a return to the austerity of 2010 when he made his unexpected return to 11 Downing Street last October. His first full budget is expected to keep taxes high and spending low.
Britain's chancellor of the exchequer will give with one hand and take away with the other in next week's budget.
Anonymous treasury officials told newspapers that Jeremy Hunt's spring budget statement on March 15 would be a "game of two halves."
"We need to balance the nation’s books — rejecting above-inflation public sector pay awards, and additional borrowing to fund tax cuts or a spending splurge," a Treasury source said. "All three will only fuel inflation further."
Taxes will stay pegged at the high levels set by Hunt in his revision of short-lived chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's autumn mini-budget — which prompted a revolt by the City of London and Bank of England that saw the leader of the Tory pro-EU faction make an unexpected return to government.
Kwarteng had hoped to promote economic growth by reversing rises in Corporation Tax and the National Insurance social security tax made by his predecessor Rishi Sunak — now prime minister.
"The best tax cut right now is a cut in inflation," Hunt told backbench MPs unhappy with the high-tax regime. "We have a plan, there are early signs it’s working, and we need to stick to it and not rock the boat."
But Hunt will reportedly bow to pressure and extend the government's Energy Price Guarantee scheme — which subsidises household gas and electricity bills down to an average cap of £2,500 per year — for another three months, at a cost of £2.7 billion.
The Treasury is hopeful that forecasts of a drop wholesale energy prices by the summer, bringing average bills down to £2,000 per year, will prove correct.
Britain's Chancellor Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street to deliver his autumn financial statement to Parliament - Sputnik International, 1920, 18.01.2023
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Hunt will also unveil a plan to get five million benefits claimants back into work — especially those over 50, who commonly face challenges finding a new job.
The "carrot and stick" approach will mean "those who can work, work," Hunt has previously said, while "those who can’t, we will always help."
The chancellor has also insisted more needs to be done to cut government debt, with the treasury paying £120 billion annually in interest alone — almost as much as the National Health Service's budget.
"That’s money going into the hands of creditors around the world, not public services," Hunt told fellow Tories. "Our interest is the same size as Slovakia’s economy."
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