Will the Autumn Budget be a nightmare before Christmas?

‘Good consumer outcomes should never be the casualty of rushed policymaking’

clock • 3 min read

November Budgets avoid Halloween headlines but risk gruesome outcomes, writes Paul Muir

It's one of those years. Unfortunately, energy that would be typically devoted to Christmas planning must be balanced with thinking long and hard about the upcoming Budget, and the ramifications of it once we know what it contains. The Autumn Budget is very late this year, scheduled on 26 November. The last time a budget was delivered so late was 29 years ago in 1996 by Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, a final Budget from a Conservative party that had held power since 1979. That budget saw income tax reduced, an increase to the personal allowance and a raised inheritance tax threshold. I...

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