The autumn statement presents one of the few remaining opportunities for the Government to change the political weather before the next general election. The choices it makes next week will therefore grant us insight into its plans, hopes and the sort of voters it is targeting.
Plenty of speculation surrounds the possibility of a cut to inheritance tax, currently levied at 40 per cent on parts of an estate worth more than £325,000. Such a move is headline-grabbing, yet it wouldn’t help many families, given that fewer than four per cent of estates pay the tax, according to data from HMRC.
Presentationally, this would be challenging for the Government, at a time when prices are far greater than they were two years ago and borrowers face higher mortgage repayments. It would also further shift the tax burden away from wealth and towards income.
The Prime Minister and Chancellor are under pressure from Conservative backbenchers to cut taxes. Given this is set to be the most tax-raising parliament in history, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, it is not a wholly unreasonable demand. But the decision of where to cut and who should benefit is paramount, never more so than at a time of tight public finances.
Office politics
The benefits of working in the office are well known, not least for young people who need the chance to learn from more senior colleagues. In few areas is this more important than in Government, where decisions, often made by surprisingly junior officials, have an impact on all of our lives.
In recognition of this, civil servants will be told to spend at least three days a week in the office. Whitehall has been more reluctant to enforce a return to the office than many other sectors. Desks are often only half full. This has left Westminster, the beating heart of British democracy and administration, feeling underpowered.
Civil servants ought every day to be packing their often grand offices to the rafters, preparing for the autumn statement, managing a world in conflict and warding off any return to the Seventies.
Red carpet-ready
The red carpet is ready to be unfurled for the 67th Evening Standard Theatre Awards on Sunday. The event is hosted by this newspaper’s proprietor, Lord Lebedev, alongside Ian McKellen, and is presented by Susan Wokoma in a glittering ceremony at Claridge’s.
The list of big names doesn’t end there, with Tom Hiddleston, Jenna Coleman and Sheila Atim among the stars celebrating the outstanding talent across the capital’s theatre scene.
We’ll have all the winners, and no doubt gossip, in Monday’s Standard.
