British economy running on empty
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- Created: Friday, 10 May 2024 14:15
- Written by James Martin
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In his Spring Budget Chancellor Jeremy Hunt chose to bribe, as best he could, the enormous number of discontented voters threatening to get rid of the government in this year’s general election. His room for manoeuvre is restricted by a stagnant economy, large state debts, and deficits in Britain’s foreign trade account and its negative long-term international capital movements. Growth in the domestic product (GDP) has been near zero since early 2022 with little margin for electoral giveaways. The question for the Chancellor was how to win back votes. So, against all institutional advice, in a political ruse, he announced further cuts to National Insurance Contributions (NICs) on top of those announced in November.