The Budget delivered by Rachel Reeves on Wednesday, the first by a Labour chancellor in 14 years, dominates the front pages. The Metro says Reeves announced a “huge series of investments”, particularly in schools and the health service, but that they will be paid for with £40bn of extra taxes and a rule change to allow the government to borrow £127bn this year.
The Financial Times says Reeves introduced the “biggest Budget tax increase in a generation”, with businesses and the wealthy bearing the brunt, and that the changes are intended to fix the country’s finances and public services. It adds that the extra borrowing will fund an extra £100bn of capital spending over the parliament, ushering in a “massive expansion of the state that will define political battle lines for years to come”.
The Budget is described as a “great £40bn tax gamble” by the i. The paper says Reeves hopes to encourage growth by boosting investment, but that the changes are set to cost households £300 per year, and that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has warned the rise in employers’ national insurance will hit jobs.
The Guardian says the Budget included an “emergency NHS cash injection” and that Reeves has “gambled on voters rewarding the government for patching up Britain’s crumbling services”.
The Budget took the tax burden to the highest level on record, according to the Times. The paper says that, on top of the hike in employers’ national insurance, there will be an increase in capital gains tax as well as temporary freezes to the thresholds for income and inheritance tax.
The Sun’s Halloween-themed headline reads: “At least she kept it down at the pump-kins!” There had been some speculation that Reeves would end the freeze on fuel duty that has been in place since 2011, but in her statement she announced it would be extended.
The increase in public spending will help “undo 14 years of Tory negligence”, says the Daily Mirror. It adds that that Budget included an end to tax breaks for non-doms and private schools and quotes Reeves saying: “This is the start of a decade of renewal”.
The Daily Telegraph says the tax rises have “crushed hopes of higher growth” and will “damage living standards”. It adds that the OBR has cut its growth forecasts for most of this decade and quotes an economist warning that a “sugar rush” of economic growth from higher government spending will quickly wane.
And the Daily Mail says Reeves delivered a “tax bombshell for Britain’s strivers” and that the OBR’s “bleak” forecasts have made a “mockery of her ambition” to be the most pro-growth chancellor in history.
