March 2023 - Budget Newsletter

It may not have seemed like it, but the Budget on 15th March was the first in almost seventeen months. The last formal Budget was on 27 October 2021, three Prime Ministers and four Chancellors ago. In 2022 there were plenty of statements from the various Chancellors, but none was given the imprimatur of Budget, even though the media branded several as ‘mini-Budgets’. The reality is that the last two such announcements contained spending and tax changes bigger than most genuine Budgets. 

Kwasi Kwarteng’s ‘Growth Plan’ announcementin September 2022 had a bottom line of £45bn extra borrowing by 2026/27 to fund a range of tax cuts. Less than two dizzying months later, Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement delivered £55bn of tax increases by 2027/28, having reversed much of Mr Kwarteng’s proposals.