Jeremy Hunt's 'back to work' budget sees pension limits scrapped and free childcare extended

Sign up for View email from Westminster for expert analytics straight to your inboxReceive our free email View from WestminsterPlease enter a valid email addressPlease enter a valid email addressI would like to receive emails about offers, events and updates day of The Independent. Read our privacy notice{{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}An error has occurred. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Jeremy Hunt unveiled a rapid drop in inflation, free toddler care and a pension tax cut as he used his first budget to declare that his economic plan "worked".

Stating that Britain's economy "proved the doubters wrong", the Chancellor also announced that Britain would avoid a recession.

He used a £25billion-a-year improvement in the country's finances to draw up a 'growth' budget which he said would provide 'better jobs and better opportunities' for the country. coming.

And he told MPs the government was on track to reduce the debt, leaving 'more money for our public services and a less burden on future generations'.

Mr. Hunt used his first full budget to:

• Announce that inflation is expected to fall to 2.9% by the end of the year

• Close the cap on £1million on tax-free retirement savings

• Providing 30 hours of free childcare to working parents with children aged between nine months and three years from 2025

• Extend the price of guaranteed energy, which caps typical bills at £2,500, for another three months

• Resist demands from Tory MPs to drop the planned increase in corporation tax in April

Mr. Hunt then pledged to "fill the 1 million vacancies businesses across the country have, so they can grow faster."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said said the 'back to work' budget would help 'more people get the jobs they want'.

But Sir Keir Starmer said Britain was once again 'the right man sick of Europe" after years of "managed decline" by the Tories, as he slammed what he said were "plaster" announcements.

The Chancellor also faced accusations that his pension reforms were a tax cut for the wealthy, just as the overall tax burden is expected to rise to levels not seen since the 1940s.

And the Independent Office for Fiscal Responsibility (OBR) has warned that households are still set to face the biggest drop in living standards on record. /p>

There was no money for striking public sector workers, but the highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank pointed out that the Chancellor had found another 6 billion to freeze fuel taxes and maintain the 5p-a-litre cut announced last year.

Paul Johnson of the IFS said: "£6 billion could have been enough to make an inflation-matching pay offer possible [for public sector workers] this coming year. "It's a political choice. Money for motorists, but not for nurses, doctors and teachers.

He also said the previously announced freeze on tax thresholds on income, which set the level at which workers begin to pay different amounts of tax...