U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced the Labour government budget on Oct. 30 as the economy in the U.K. is in almost the same state of collapse as Germany’s. The budget includes £40 billion in new taxes, which won the praise of the IMF (for bringing “stability” to the economy). Reeves admitted that her increase in employer national insurance will hit workers’ pay: “Wage increases might be slightly less than they otherwise would have been,” she told the BBC.
The National Farmers’ Union called Reeves’ budget “disastrous” after the treasury minister capped the inheritance tax relief for farms at £1 million.
The budget included what the Chancellor called “the biggest hike in funding for the NHS [National Health Service] since 2010”—£22 billion extra for the front line and another £3 billion for equipment and buildings for the rest of this financial year and the following one. The BBC noted: “That may sound a lot. But the overall health budget for this year alone is in excess of £190 billion.”
