MADRID, 17 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss, has defended the almost total dismantling of the plan for tax cuts and public spending announced by the Government in September, since she considers that “the British population right now wants stability”.
Truss has acknowledged that the country faces “serious challenges” amid “worsening economic conditions.” “We need to act to chart a new path to growth that supports and serves people across the UK,” she said on Twitter.
The new Finance Minister, Jeremy Hunt, has finished dismantling this Monday the ‘mini budget’ that his predecessor, Kywasi Kwarteng, had launched last month. The controversy generated by this plan led to the dismissal of Kwarteng, a key ally of Truss.
In addition to the decision communicated last Friday by Truss herself to back down on the plan to reduce corporate tax to 19% from 25%, it was decided this Monday to suspend “indefinitely” the reduction of one percentage point in income tax from 20% to 19%, scheduled for April 2023, raising the expected collection by another 14,000 million pounds (16,000 million euros) per year.
Likewise, Hunt has indicated that the Government “will reverse almost all the tax measures announced in the plan communicated at the end of September”, including the cut in the tax on dividends, in addition to not going ahead with the new purchase plan without VAT, nor with the freezing of taxes on alcohol and with the reforms to the rules of work outside the payroll, although it will maintain the reductions in stamp duty and National Insurance.
On the other hand, in reference to the greater spending measure contemplated in the ‘mini budget’, the head of the United Kingdom Treasury has confirmed that the ceiling on the energy bill will be maintained until April 2023, instead of two years, while that formulas will be studied to alleviate the impact of the rise in fuel prices on homes and businesses.