Treasury Questions

In the Autumn Statement on 22 November 2023, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt MP said he would cut the main 12% rate of employee national insurance contributions by two percentage points to 10% as of 6 January 2024. Despite this, the UK continues to face the largest fall in real living standards since records began in the 1950s and are forecast to be 3.5% lower in 2024-25 than their pre-pandemic level. With the economy flatlining and Britain’s total debt far higher than before the pandemic, the tax burden is here to stay and will not decrease under this Conservative government.

At Treasury Questions on Tuesday 19 December 2023 I asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer a question: “Will the Chancellor confirm how much higher the tax burden is forecast to be at the end, compared with at the start, of this Parliament?”

The Chancellor answered by saying: “What I can confirm is that, as a result of the measures I took in the autumn statement, it will be lower at the end of the scorecard period than it would otherwise have been, and a lot lower than it would be under any Labour Government.”

The Chancellor did not answer the question. It is vital to know specifically how much higher the tax burden is forecast to be by the end of this Parliament.