Chancellor slashes taxes for the rich and tells Universal Credit claimants to work more

'Hard to imagine a worse response to a cost of living crisis'

The Chancellor has been widely criticised for delivering a mini-budget that is "unashamedly for the rich" after he outlined measures to get Britain through the cost-of-living crisis. Deploying the much-maligned theory of trickle-down economics, Kwasi Kwarteng abolished the top rate of income tax for the highest earners as he spent tens of billions of pounds in a “gamble” to promote growth. From April, the 629,000 earners getting more than £150,000 a year will no longer pay the top income tax rate of 45 per cent and will instead pay the 40 per cent applicable to those on over £50,271. A whopping 120,000 people on Universal Credit will now have to take active steps to seek more and better-paid work or face having their benefits reduced. Responding to the announcement, Guardian reporter Pippa Crerar described it as an "unashamed budget for the rich". https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1573236429945458688?s=20&t=OWjVn2kkgT7LvdE9TeUB0g Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell also made their thoughts known. https://twitter.com/johnmcdonnellMP/status/1573238097579749376?s=20&t=zuUSG87A3lmA5CQ93FGyxA https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1573251593230852096?s=20&t=7LlAzh1zyl12Viow9o1bNw While Jo Maugham did some number crunching to find that those earning a million pounds a year will have £54,400 extra in their pockets, while for those earning £25,000, the equivalent figure is about £280. https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1573243112956301312?s=20&t=L_1YJTPF_6VX-QuxC9YmdQ Related links:

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