Chancellor Rachel Reeves stood before the Commons last week and delivered her Emergency Budget, after her efforts last year pummelled the economy.
Once again she gambled on having to return with another sweeping tax raid later this year, leaving the British economy balancing on a knife edge.
Since then, spring has truly sprung across Great Britain.
The sun has been shining even in Counties beyond Somerset so much that some parts of the country have been warmer than Athens, but with the new month came an ominously-looming dark cloud: what the Conservatives have labelled ‘Awful April.’
Jacob Rees-Mogg says the Government is itself creating an economic downwards spiral
GB News
The Labour Party of ‘working people’- a term that the Prime Minister has previously struggled to define - has ensured that almost all households and businesses across the country will be hit by soaring bills caused by the Government or its agencies.
9 in 10 councils are increasing bills by the maximum 5 per cent, car tax has risen by another £5, and water bills have increased by £10 a month.
Getting on the property ladder has become more difficult for first-time buyers as the tax-free stamp duty threshold has been slashed from £425,000 to £300,000.
And, the energy price cap has risen by a higher-than-expected 6.4 per cent, with Ofgem blaming ‘rising global prices,’ echoing the Chancellor’s tendencies to blame our own economic woes solely on the instability of global politics.
Lets not forget Britain’s energy prices remain four times higher than America’s, thanks to Mr Milliband’s continued net zero zealotry.
But fear not, because the Prime Minister said this morning he is giving “everyone a pay rise,” as the government once again sought generously to ‘put money back in the pockets’ of you, the ‘working people.’
The National Living wage has increased by 6.7 per cent, a move cheered as always by Labour MPs as some form of unequivocal good. But in reality this is not a helping hand onto the employment ladder, but rather as The Resolution Foundation, a left-wing think tank, has warned, a decision that will make hiring people more expensive by 14 per cent.
With business confidence at a two-year low, surveys are suggesting firms will freeze hiring or cut staff altogether, and worse still, the rise in labour costs will be felt most keenly in the lowest 10% of workers. It will be the poorest employees who are most likely to end up jobless. Up to 85,000 roles could be cut across the country.
All these decisions are voluntary, Government-driven ones which will put up inflation, keep interest rates high, reduce economic activity and hit the public finances. The Government is itself creating an economic downwards spiral.
As the impact of these price rises begins to become clearer for working people across the country, the Government will be nervously anticipating what US President Donald Trump has called ‘Liberation Day.’
The White House has this evening reportedly drafted a proposal for the US to impose tariffs of 20 per cent of most imports from tomorrow, with Downing Street indicating a British exemption deal will not be reached in time.
If you are hanging onto the hope of no further tax rises this year, Trump tariffs could be the final nail in the coffin. A member of the budget watchdog’s committee has warned the Chancellor’s fiscal headroom, that she desperately clawed back in last week’s Spring Statement, would be completely wiped out by 20 to 25 per cent tariffs.
The Chancellor would be forced back to the drawing board, forcing you to once again pay the price.
