24 November 2023 , 11:33
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The Tories could be plotting a change in next year's Budget schedule in a bid to improve their election fortunes.
In a desperate attempt to improve polling ratings, Rishi Sunak could hold an early Spring Budget in February instead of March. The move would likely be to allow any tax cuts to have enough time to have an impact on the money in people's pockets before an election.
Senior Treasury figures have taken part in discussions about holding an early Budget, according to reports in the Telegraph. It fuels speculation that a general election could be held in the spring instead of autumn.
The date of the next election has to be some time before January 2025 - with many predicting it will either be May or November next year. Bets on it being in May increased after Jeremy Hunt announced £20billion of eye-catching tax cuts to appeal to voters this week.
Many suggested the Chancellor's plan to slash National Insurance by 2% from January 6 was a sneaky hint of the timing of a general election. The date crucially lent weight to the theory that May could be the date Mr Sunak goes to the country.
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Normally tax cutting measures in fiscal events take effect from the following tax year - in this case April next year. Introducing the emergency legislation in January instead gives voters enough time to potentially feel the benefit of the change before an election in May, that they wouldn’t necessarily have had, had it come in in April.
In terms of bringing next year's Budget forward, February is the earliest the next fiscal statement could be held. This is because a minimum of 10 weeks notice must be given to the Office for Budget Responsibility, which produces forecasts.
Either way, experts have suggested many workers won’t feel much - if any - benefit from the Chancellor’s big tax announcement. Mr Hunt was accused of a "cynical ploy" after failing to raise income tax thresholds, meaning more than three million will be dragged into a higher tax bracket. This will cancel out any benefits for a large proportion of workers, economists warn, with the tax burden set to hit a post-war high by 2029.