Budget 2024: Jeremy Hunt cuts National Insurance and reforms child benefit but tax burden still climbing
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Jeremy Hunt has announced another cut in National Insurance and also a reform to child benefit in his last Budget before the election.
Some polls have Rishi Sunak's party more than 20 points behind Labour, and Hunt is desperate to give the government a boost ahead of the general election later this year.
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Hide AdHunt once again cut National Insurance by 2 percentage points and also announced an extra £6bn for the NHS, however this will have to be paid for by public sector productivity.
The tax burden is still set to reach it's highest level since 1948.
Follow our live blog below for the latest news, updates and analysis from the 2024 Spring Budget.
NationalWorld's Budget 2024 liveblog
Key Events
Welcome to NationalWorld's Budget 2024 live blog
We'll be updating you throughout the day with the latest news, analysis and announcements as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt prepares to announce the 2024 budget.
What can we expect from today's announcement?
NationalWorld Politics Editor Ralph Blackburn has given his predictions ahead of budget announcement later today.
Tax cuts have been a key part of Tory Party policy for some times but the Chancellor will be very concerned about making any tax cuts that could risk fuelling inflation - after all he got his job after Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-Budget.
Hunt also looks likely to cut National Insurance once again. In the autumn, the Chancellor slashed this by two percentage points - from 12% to 10% - and it’s thought he wants to go further.
Read more of Ralph Blackburn's predictions here: 2024 UK Budget predictions: what will Jeremy Hunt do with income tax, national insurance and housing
'The Tories promised to fix the nation’s roof... they are now burning the house down'
Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has taken aim at Jeremy Hunt and the Conservative Party ahead of the 2024 budget announcement.
Reeves said: “This Budget should be the final chapter of fourteen years of economic failure under the Conservatives that has left Britain worse off.
“The Conservatives promised to fix the nation’s roof, but instead they have smashed the windows, kicked the door in and are now burning the house down."
Reeves said that in Labour's view "nothing the Chancellor says or does can undo the economic vandalism of the Conservatives over the past decade."
She added: “The country needs change, not another failed Budget or the risk of five more years of Conservative chaos. Under Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Labour Party has changed and is now the party of economic responsibility. Only Labour has long term plan to deliver more jobs, more investment and to make working people better off.”