Ministers will be told they need to slim down their budgets but the details will not be announced at the Chancellor's Autumn Statement next week
A Government source said: “We wanted to get all the crap out of the door, but we need a full spending review for that and we boxed ourselves in with the timetable.” The Treasury concluded it was essential to announce its revised fiscal plans as early as possible in order to reassure investors following the markets meltdown which followed September’s mini-Budget.through increased taxes and lower spending, Mr Hunt has acknowledged he may have to break promises made in the 2019 election manifesto.
The Chancellor is likely to lower the threshold at which higher earners have to start paying the 45p additional rate of income tax – less than two months after Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng promised to abolish the top rate altogether. He is considering increasing the headline rate as well, although that would be seen as an extreme option.
One key debate over the contents of the Autumn Statement centres around defence spending, with Mr Hunt under pressure to guarantee that the UK will continue on a path to spend at least 3 per cent of its GDP on the military by 2030. Speaking after talks with Rishi Sunak at No 10, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg suggested that the Prime Minister had told him spending would continue to rise. He said: “The United Kingdom has led by example over many years when it comes to… defence spending, spending more than 2 per cent of GDP on defence, the United Kingdom has done that and now more and more allies are following example of the United Kingdom.
“But of course in a more dangerous world we need to invest more in our defence, and I am absolutely confident that the United Kingdom will continue to lead by example on defence spending.”
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