Healey unveils £100 for energy bills and bank tax in first Budget
Source: BBC ·
The chancellor targets the cost of living amid global economic turmoil but opposition parties say he has not been bold enough.
From the source
Millions of households will get £100 to help with soaring energy bills to be paid for by a tax on bank profits, John Healey has announced in his first Budget. The chancellor said he wanted to give hard-pressed families "breathing space now" and "hope for the future" as the UK economy is battered by "global economic storms". He also unveiled tax breaks to boost high street businesses - but confirmed that many big decisions, including on defence spending and welfare, will not be made until next year. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Healey's plans were "not bold enough" and the government was "overspent, overborrowed, overtaxed and drowning in an out-of-control welfare system". In an hour-long speech to a packed House of Commons, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham and other frontbench colleagues cheering him on, the chancellor unveiled a string of measures aimed at cutting the cost of living. One-off £100 energy payment for people living in council tax bands A to D in England, with…