Healey Targets Business Costs in First Budget Amid Rising Borrowing
Chancellor to focus on entrepreneurs and profit, with banks reportedly facing increased taxes as government borrowing surges.
Carla Rooney
Chancellor John Healey will deliver his first Budget focused on reducing business costs and supporting entrepreneurs.
A tax surcharge on bank profits could jump from 3 percent to 8 percent. Banks face a revenue raid, with analysts expecting the Bank of England to raise interest rates next month, and possibly again in December.
Inflation surged to 3.5 percent in the year to September. Soaring borrowing costs, attributed to the Iran war and weaker growth, reduced the government's fiscal headroom.
Healey acknowledges businesses suffer under the cost-of-living crisis. He confirmed firms have been under "a lot of pressure" in recent years. He aims to be a chancellor who supports businesses in Britain making a profit.
"I want to be a chancellor who backs business in Britain making a profit, and those entrepreneurs who, in the end, are the ones who challenge the status quo, come up with innovative ideas and are trying, some of them through sheer bloody-mindedness, to keep going through these sorts of pressures," Healey stated.
Healey also noted, "And so when I talk about the cost of business, and recognising that in the same way as we’re recognising the cost of living pressures, I’m conscious of that as I go into [the budget] for both businesses and households."
When I talk about the cost of business, and recognising that in the same way as we’re recognising the cost of living pressures, I’m conscious of that as I go into [the budget] for both businesses and households.
Economists claim Healey could benefit from a windfall due to higher inflation. This inflation is expected to push more people into higher tax brackets as thresholds remain frozen until 2031.
The Labour Government previously approved drilling for gas at the Jackdaw site in the North Sea.