As Jeremy Hunt stepped up to the dispatch box for his second Autumn Statement as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the nation’s attention was firmly fixed on potential tax cuts.
Last autumn, the Chancellor used his fiscal speech to brace the UK for a “storm” of tax rises. This year, however, with a fiscal windfall of around £27bn to play with, Hunt was able to turn his attention to reducing the tax burden for households and businesses.
The Chancellor announced “110 measures to help grow the economy”, including a 2% cut to the main rate of National Insurance (NI) from 6 January, alongside incentives to encourage business investment such as permanently extending the full expensing initiative.