Jeremy Hunt budget: Energy support scheme cut from two years to April 2023 as Liz Truss’ mini-budget binned

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The announcement has seen almost all of the mini-budget plans scrapped

The new chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt has revealed parts of his mid-term fiscal plan today, around two weeks earlier than planned.

The new chancellor has announced more u-turns to the mini-budget which was announced by Kwasi Kwarteng on September 23.

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The announcement comes just five days after Mr Hunt was handed the job following the dismissal of his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng.

The chancellor is reversing almost all tax measures announced in the growth plan three weeks ago that have not “started parliamentary legislation”.

PA

Mr Hunt said: "We will continue with the abolition of health and social care levy and the stamp duty change, off payroll working reforms, the new VAT-free shopping scheme for non-UK visitors and the freeze on alcohol duty rates."

The plans to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20p in the pound to 19p will be scrapped from April 2023.

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Mr Hunt said it is not right to borrow to fund this tax cut. The rate will remain indefinitely at 20p until economic circumstances allow it to be cut, he says.

This was one of the measures announced by former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in September’s mini-budget and that it would benefit more than 31 million people.

Mr. Hunt also announced the scrapping of the government’s two year energy support scheme - the current scheme will now expire in April 2023 and will be replaced by something different following a treasury review.

Mr Hunt added that he hopes the plans that he has announced will avoid uncertainty and deliver “confidence and stability.”

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A stand out statement which wasn’t made by the chancellor was that there will be no u-turn on bankers bonuses, at the same time that energy support will be ended sooner than earlier planned.

Reaction to the announcement

As expected, there has been plenty of reaction to the chancellor’s announcement today. Money saving expert Martin Lewis tweted to say that “Trussenomics” has been “totally hunted down”.

Former spokepserson to Tony Blair Alistair Campbell said: “Truss is finished. Her leadership exposed as a total sham. But don’t buy the idea that Hunt is some kind of compassionate Conservative. He was key to Austerity Mark One. And was setting up Austerity Mark Two.”

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