The March budget last month is expected to be the last budget this government makes before a General Election. In the latest episode of the Bylines Network Podcast, the hosts, myself and Chris, look at some of the big policies announced, how these can help people, and how these policies could point to the shape the next election could take.
The two big policies which caught the headlines were the 2p reduction in National Insurance and the scrapping of non-dom status in the UK.
National Insurance cuts – or not?
It is notable that National Insurance (NI) is being cut, rather than income tax, mostly because NI targets many more people, more equally. Chris was fast to point out that this tax cut only really affects the people in the middle, only benefitting people earning above £30,000 a year. We were particularly unsure why this policy was announced since in the days after, it was speculated that the government was going to abolish National Insurance.
Non-doms – Conservatives and Labour disagree
The other big policy that grabbed the media’s attention was the abolishment of non-dom status, which was surprising given that this was a landmark Labour policy. Non-dom status describes a UK resident whose permanent home for tax purposes is outside the UK, often meaning they pay less tax. This is something of a reversal in policy for the Conservatives because they have previously argued that taxing international businesses and business people would drive away investment and jobs from the country, whereas Labour argue this could generate billions in terms of revenue for institutions like the NHS.
It should be noted, however, that while the Conservatives are planning on making changes, these are not as strict as Labour would want. Should Labour win the election, they plan to improve on these plans further, to generate £5 billion more for the country.
Childcare staff shortages
Whilst there were more policies announced ,increasing funding for childcare is an important issue. It’s worth considering the fact that there is a substantial shortage of staff in the sector making any increase in provision challenging. Chris noted that if you watch any TV channel with ads, you see many adverts urging people to work with children because there aren’t currently enough people working with children.
While these policies might be great for headlines, we felt the country needs sweeping changes and policies, but what we got was not enough. We felt this budget was more about the Conservatives laying the groundwork for their future campaign when a general election is called this year.
Please give the podcast a listen if you want to hear us go into more detail and if you like what you hear, subscribe to us from wherever you listen to your podcasts. We’re on most platforms.
