My take on Autumn Budget 2021

Yesterday the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak delivered the autumn budget and spending review & that he talks a lot about “age of optimism”. Well I am going to talk about it and whether the budget was really age of optimism or just more of the status quo & more of the same (nothing changes). 

For that, here is my opinion on the Autumn Budget 2021. 

My take on Autumn Budget

Absolutely not. Not a “age of optimism” as Sunak spoken about it while delivering it at the House of Commons yesterday. 

For starters, climate change has not been mentioned. Since the UK will shortly host the UN Climate Change Conference (known as COP26), it is madness to not include the measures of how to deal with climate change. Especially creating a green jobs. Yet the Chancellor is lowering Air Passenger Duty tax on short domestic flights. 

Next one is Universal Credit and cost of living. With the end of UC £20 uplift being cut earlier this month including the furlough scheme that had been used throughout the 18 months of the Covid pandemic, Rishi Sunak spoke about it & said that it was “taper rate”. Universal Credit taper rate? Keeping some of your earnings if you are UC benefit claimant in the UK but lose some penny of your money from 63p to 55p. Makes no sense at all. 3.8 million families to be worse off (particularly the sick and disabled people). It may be good news for those who works full time but bad news for those who are currently looking for work & are struggling to find. No wonder the benefit system in the UK is so f***ing awful in terms of the sanctions, unnecessary benefit assessment such as work capability assessment/fit to work test. I even spoken about it on my blog about the DWP. mrlimitless95.blogspot.com 

While inflation will happen at above 4% next year especially after 1 years and half due to the impact of the Covid pandemic plus supply chain issues and the effects of Brexit, it seems Sunak is living in another planet while everything is perfectly okay. I cannot even get why Rishi Sunak’s Budgets are so different than previous Conservative chancellors and being compared to the previous budgets in the Blair - Brown era (when Labour were in power from 1997 to 2010 under the name “New Labour”). As if Rishi Sunak is the Tory version of Gordon Brown and it is distinctly different than George Osborne. 

Tax cuts also being mentioned in the Budget and I am supposed to believe that austerity is over or already over? Definitely no, austerity is not being reversed completely despite the naysayers in the government including Rishi Sunak and Prime Minister Boris Johnson says otherwise. Just continuation of austerity. Barely a sign of hope. 

Even the only thing that was good about the autumn budget is rising the minimum wage from £8.91 to £9.50 an hour from next year’s April. 

The rest was not much of positivity. Other than just the continuation of status quo without meaningful change as I watched it live yesterday on telly (British informal word for TV = Television). This budget like previous budget this year and all before who were Tory budgets are all mediocre. 

Earlier this year, I said quite similar on the budget (spring budget 2021) in my March blog post. mrlimitless95.blogspot.com 

So yeah. Yesterday’s Budget. No difference than the last budget. google.co.uk 

Small wage increases, spiralling cost and tax rises (not good news for middle earners). Plus the highest tax burden since 1950s & highest fuel costs and national debt. Yet the Tories keeps saying austerity is “over” which is far from over. No wonder the coronavirus pandemic is ongoing & still impacting us everywhere in the world. dailymail.co.uk m.youtube.com 

As for Brexit, the impact of it is twice that of Covid, reducing the UK productivity to 4% t.co 

Yet Rishi Sunak talks about “high wage, high skills economy”. Well I think i have heard enough so I will leave it that. I rest my case. 

Check out my friend’s blog post about his opinion on the Barnet Eye by Roger. barneteye.blogspot.com