Healey refuses to say Labour will keep its pledge of equal minimum wage for young workers before the election
John Healey, the Chancellor, said considering a formal apology did not mean British people today should bear financial liability for events "hundreds of years ago in which they had no role.
A snap poll found 60 per cent of Britons think the Budget merely "tinkered with small things," while residents of James Turner Street in Birmingham and the Essex town of Jaywick said the £100 energy handout does not come close to covering their costs. The welfare bill hit £353billion this year, up from £314.9billion in 2024-25, and official forecasts show it rising to £431billion annually by 2032. Healey compounded the damage with a U-turn, telling Radio 4 on Thursday morning there would be "a reduction in the benefits bill" before saying that evening it was "not correct" to claim he would bring it down this Parliament.
The Office for Budget Responsibility warned Healey's tax-threshold freeze will cost Britain 215,000 jobs by 2030.
Buy-to-let landlords face a double tax hit from April, with rental income taxed an extra 4p in the pound on top of Reeves's earlier rise, as the OBR warns of a "steady rise in rents."
The owner of a pub in Healey's own constituency warned pint prices could rise by up to 25p after a record 4.5 per cent hike in alcohol duty.
