THE Chancellor has ruled out further reductions to police budgets and abandoned planned cuts to tax credits in an Autumn Statement U-turn. “But people raised concerns with me that the speed of getting there was too quick, that we weren’t doing enough to help families in the transition”, he said. I hear and understand them, ‘ he told MPs to loud cheers.
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‘The simplest thing to do is not phase these changes in but avoid them altogether.
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”. Now is the time to back our police and give them the tools do the job. Labour said the overall welfare cuts would still hurt working families. “A swathe of [government] departments will see real terms cuts”.
The Government had faced pressure from senior police officers over budget cuts, especially in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.
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.
Osborne also announced plans to limit the amount that could be paid in housing benefits for new applicants, and to stop housing and top-up pension payments to people who have left the country for more than a month.
Mr Johnson said that the reversal of tax credit cuts which had been forecast to raise £4.4 billion for the Treasury will have “little effect on the public finances” in the long run, because the benefit was anyway due to be replaced by Universal Credit.
British finance minister George Osborne’s latest spending plans have a roughly 50-50 chance of being successful, the head of Britain’s non-partisan Institute for Fiscal Studies said on Thursday.
“The Government are also maintaining funding for free infant school meals, protecting rates for the pupil premium, and increasing the cash in the dedicated schools grant”.
The IFS criticised the tax grab of almost £1 billion through extra stamp duty on second and buy-to-let homes as “ill-designed” and said that a £3 billion bill had been imposed on large companies to fund apprenticeships.
The changes to the tax credit system would mean that £4.4 billion would be saved, but those against the plans said that people would struggle elsewhere and the savings would not end up happening.
“We believe it’s the right decision given the variety of threats we’re facing”.
He said: “Since 2010, no economy in the G7 has grown faster than Britain”.
A “victory for Labour” was how John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, described Osborne’s change of heart.
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However, it remains to be seen how this change will impact on the Fresh Start agreement which included money for those who would have lost out on tax credits. The cuts are equivalent to 18 per cent, rather than 27 per as had been a anticipated.
