Hannah miller, has the story. In homes across the country and Public Services on the ground, it can seem like everyone is crying out for cash. We have got roads full of potholes. Are you confident that the chancellor will be persuaded to give you more money to spend on housing in the budget in a few weeks time . Well, im doing everything that i can. I mean, short of laying siege to his own home. Well, i want us to be, you know, l Cutting Taxes in a responsible way. Under pressure from backbenchers and with less money to play with than hed hoped for the chancellors scrabbling around for ways to pay for a tax cut on a scale that voters will notice. Today, mr speaker, im going to cut the main 12 rate of Employee National insurance. Last year, he chose to cut National Insurance contributions and its thought he may do that again. A tax cut for workers that brings no benefit to pensioners. The Number Crunching going on inside number 11 is not just about the state of the nations finances its
As he prepares to do this again, hes trying to improve his partys fortunes. This morning, jeremy hunt was keeping his cards close to his chest as he toured the tv studios. But he did give this hint. I do want, where its possible to do so responsibly, to move towards a lower tax economy, and i hope to show a path in that direction. But this will be a prudent and responsible budget for long term growth. With roughly £13 billion to play with, thats less than hed hoped for. The chancellor is scrabbling around for ways to find more cash that would allow him to reduce taxes. And labour arent saying whether theyd prioritise tax cuts or not. So would you bring down taxes now . Well, we want to bring the tax burden down in the long run, but were not going to promise anything which is not completely responsible and fully funded and fully costed. And youll see all of our plans in the manifesto for getting the economy growing because that Economic Growth is so crucial to making People Better off,