Rachel Reeves is back to where she started after the Spring Statement, with her £9.9billion of budget headroom restored but at what cost.
The Chancellor was true to her word and didn’t turn this week’s economic update into a second Budget, with no tax changes coming in.
But a wave of spending cuts was announced, along with growth forecasts going both down and up.
We also got the Office for Budget Responsibility’s update on what Reeves’ Autumn Budget tax rises will cost us, a threat to cash Isas and no reprieve for home buyers on stamp duty.
On this podcast episode, Georgie Frost, Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert dive into the Spring Statement to explain why it happened, what it means and tackle the question of whether taxes are going to have to rise again in autumn.
They look at the very important assumption being made by the OBR, which if it turns out to be wrong could mean there is a £48billion black hole in the sums.
And is the entire thing a charade anyway and damaging to our future prospects? Simon explains why he thinks so.
Finally, campaigners like Gary Stevenson claim this could all be solved with a wealth tax – is that where we will eventually end up?