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
For Public Services or pensions. So that was the chancellor on National Insurance and interestingly when asked about another tax increase we have seen, the freezing of thresholds, its quite complicated but as peoples salaries go complicated but as peoples salaries 9 up, complicated but as peoples salaries go up, and you pay certain levels of tax and it is frozen, when salaries go tax and it is frozen, when salaries 9 up tax and it is frozen, when salaries go up people are paying more tax and that looks to what has been leading to fiscal drag. He did not commit the chancellor to unfreezing those thresholds any earlier than 2028 which is the current projected plan. That will lead some to suggest that the tax cutting is a bit selective when it comes to the conservative but the key thing the chancellor was trying to do was set eight a Dividing Line for the election and he produced this document claiming labour would have to increase tax because of a spending commitment. Weve been through i