“As the Chancellor set out, for current tax credit claimants, because of the Government’s economic plan, we can now help with the transition to Universal Credit by avoiding changes to tax credits altogether”. I am pleased that senior politicians have listened and the adverse impact of the cuts has been recognised. “I hear and understand them”, Osborne told parliament during a half-yearly budget update.
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“This means there will be no losses in tax credits and the suggestion that tax credit cuts have somehow been postponed or transferred into Universal Credit is completely misleading”.
She added: “I think they have already cut enough so I am quite pleased that they have decided against their initial proposals”.
“Now is not the time for further police cuts”, he said. “Now is the time to back our police and give them the tools do the job” he oozed.
Osborne said they reflect the wisdom of his policy to cut government spending since coming to office in 2010.
The police chief has vowed to continue to ensure police we maximise every opportunity to prevent crime, protect the public and bring offenders to justice.
“We now need to push the Government to get the properly funded police force that we need”.
In one of the most dramatic moments of his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor said he would leave the tax credit arrangements untouched, an indication that his crushing defeat in the House of Lords had a significant influence on his approach to welfare.
Mr Osborne said that would allow him to borrow £8bn less than planned and spend £12bn on infrastructure, as well as maintain tax credits, while remaining on track to deliver a £10.1bn surplus by 2020.
Mr Osborne funded the tax credit u-turn and his decision to protect police budgets from a £ 27 billion windfall resulting from better-than-expected forecast tax receipts and rock-bottom debt interest rates.
The Chancellor said his Spending Review was created to make Britain “the most prosperous and secure of all the major nations of the world”.
Employers will also be hit by a new 0.5pc “apprenticeship levy” that will raise £3bn per year.
“The first thing to say is that this is not the end of “austerity”.
In his speech to MPs in the House of Commons, Osborne said: “I’ve had representations that these changes to tax credits should be phased in”.
“We believe it’s the right decision given the variety of threats we’re facing”.
But he says Britain must learn to do more with less and points to surveys which show continued satisfaction with public services, despite the lower funding.
The Scottish National Party, the third largest parliamentary group, said Osborne had performed a “complete and humiliating U-turn on tax credits”.
Mr Osborne’s plans are geared towards the Government having a surplus in 2019, the final full year of this Parliament.
The IFS also mentioned other spending cuts, such as the 40% reduction in capital grants for housing associations by 2017-18.
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NHS to deliver £22bn efficiency savings in England and Department of Health to cut 25 per cent from its Whitehall budget.
