-
chevron_right
Snake oil on steroids: the dishonesty at the heart of Jeremy Hunt’s budget | Richard Partington
news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 10 March - 11:10
Unfunded pledges and election gimmicks – from Tories or Labour – are last thing Britain needs
Before his budget last week, Jeremy Hunt said he knew voters could see through gimmicks . “And we are not going to do gimmicks on Wednesday”. Fast forward and what did the chancellor offer? A tax-cutting budget where taxes were still actually rising, and the promise of more funding for public services grounded in a £20bn austerity drive.
Having made very few new pledges that hadn’t been leaked to the media, the most attention-grabbing promise Hunt made was to declare an ambition to abolish employee national insurance – an unfunded commitment worth more than £40bn; equivalent to the annual transport budget.
Before a general election it might be tempting to promise the world, but it would be better to be honest
Continue reading...