'Hunt is treating voters as fools but they know they're being taken for a ride'
Christmas is a time for giving. Unless you are Jeremy Hunt. For him, every season is for taking away.
The Chancellor’s freeze on personal allowances is the equivalent of 4p on the basic rate, leaving workers with the highest tax burden since the Second World War. This stealth tax has dragged more than five million people into higher bands – three million of them on the lowest incomes, who were previously exempt from paying anything.
And from the new tax year in April, a typical family will pay an extra £800 in real terms due to inflation – nearly three times more than they will spend on Christmas presents. Add to that the cost-of-living crisis and this Christmas will be more a bleak mid-winter than tidings of comfort and joy.
Mr Hunt’s national insurance cut will land in pay packets next month but it is less a handout and more sleight of hand because we will still pay more tax overall. The Chancellor simply wanted a headline-grabber as a general election looms, in the hope taxpayers would not look at the pain in the small print.
That is treating the voters as fools. They know when they are being short-changed and taken for a ride by a Scrooge. There can be only one New Year resolution for 2024. To sweep these shambolic, dishonest Tory hucksters from office once and for all.
TOWIE's Chloe Brockett makes cheeky dig at Saffron Lempriere during filming
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt in London (Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)Vows crumble
Rishi Sunak is good at making promises he can’t keep. But that is unforgivable when it threatens the safety of our children. More than 600 schools have not been fully inspected for crumbling concrete which could cause ceilings to cave in unexpectedly.
That is despite a goal to have these essential surveys completed by Christmas. So parents and teachers will go into the festive season with no cast-iron guarantees schools will be safe for children to return to.
Internal Department for Education documents show officials accept the necessary remedial work will take years to finish. That is not good enough. The PM is putting so much effort into trying to pacify the warring factions in his party he is neglecting our children’s wellbeing.
If there is danger, temporary classrooms must be used. Where surveys find asbestos, it must be dealt with. There is no excuse for teaching kids in concrete timebombs.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaving Downing Street to take part in the weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday (AFP via Getty Images)Boys gorge
I’m a Celeb stars Matt Hancock and Boy George have met up to enjoy a more satisfying dinner than they had on the ITV reality show. In the jungle, George feasted on fermented sticky beans and seaweed, while Matt gnawed his way through cockroaches, a cow’s bottom and a camel’s todger. But good luck finding a restaurant here that serves up a nice karma chameleon.
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