“I’m proud of my officers and staff and the work they put in each day to protect Londoners”.
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‘And because I’ve been able to announce today an improvement in the public finances, the simplest thing to do is not to phase these changes in, but to avoid them altogether’.
The opposition Labour Party has also fiercely opposed the tax credit changes under the leadership of new leader Jeremy Corbyn.
But he declared: “Now is not the time for further police cuts. Now is the time to back our police and give them the tools do the job” he oozed.
In particular, student nurses will be less than enthralled following the announcement that their education will have to be funded by loans instead of grants, while other public spending cuts announced by the Chancellor will also cause real pain for many.
County council leader Carl Les said: “While we are always reluctant to raise council tax we will have to consider this step if we are to protect the most vulnerable in our society”.
It came following grim warnings of the impact further cuts would have on the ability of forces to respond to Paris-style terror attacks.
July’s post-election budget revealed proposals to cut tax credits for working families which raised inevitable concerns that working people would be worse off.
“He really is cutting spending on non-pension benefits to its lowest level – relative to national income – for 30 years”, Mr Johnson warned.
George Osborne surprised MPs by ditching plans to cut tax credits and by announcing that he was protecting police budgets.
“We said this was a smoke-and-mirror spending review and we were right”, he told reporters.
But what allowed him to loosen the purse strings was an unexpected windfall of £27 billion, which was fortuitously conjured up by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
From next April, the Stamp Duty on buy-to-let properties will be three per cent higher than that on homes purchased for living in.
“This is not the end of austerity”, Johnson added.
Police chiefs have questioned George Osborne’s much-trumpeted U-turn on spending cuts to police funding, saying his promise of immunity was “misrepresentative” and will “ring hollow”.
“We took the hard decisions then”.
The borrowing forecast for this year was cut from £74.1 billion to £73.5 billion, with the Government predicted to achieve a surplus of £10.1 billion in 2019/20 and £14.7 billion in 2020/21.
A “victory for Labour” was how John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, described Osborne’s change of heart.
“Since the cuts were announced in the summer, parents have faced increasing anxiety over losing the tax credits they rely upon so heavily”. Unprotected departments’ spending on service delivery and administration is falling 18% by 2019-20.
Mr Osborne also outlined plans for 400,000 new homes in England. “That growth has not been fuelled by an irresponsible banking boom, like in the last decade”, he said, “we’re determined that this will be an economic recovery for all, felt in all parts of our nation”.
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We’ll get more high-skilled apprenticeships so young people can start careers that enable them to stay in the city.
