‘We deserve better’: what the papers say about Jeremy Hunt’s pre-election budget

Newspapers have given predictably mixed reviews to chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s budget, widely regarded as the launchpad ahead of an election expected in the autumn.

The Guardian called it a “last desperate act” and noted that the country “will go into the next general election with taxes at their highest level since 1948 despite Jeremy Hunt’s 2p budget cut in national insurance contributions”.

The Mirror’s headline echoed Keir Starmer’s verdict, “We deserve better”.

The paper said the budget was “full of gimmicks that will do little to help Brits battling soaring living costs” and cited the Labour leader as saying the average household will in fact be £870 worse off due to other tax hikes.

In its budget special edition, the i also pointed out that taxes will hit their highest level since 1948, but chose to headline on Labour ruling out “taxing wealthy to avoid £20bn cuts”. It also highlights the seven million people who face “stealth income tax hikes” and the “councils heading for social care crisis”.

The Metro wrote that Hunt had used his budget to draw up “battle lines for the election” by “cutting taxes for millions” and seeking to “pull the rug from Labour’s own policies”. Hunt had announced a “£450 giveaway as poll looms” it wrote, but added that “smokers, vapers and hol lets hit”.

The Financial Times reported that the chancellor had “taken aim at Labour’s poll lead” but failed “to deliver [a] knockout punch” and noted that he had left the “door open to more tax cuts before an autumn election”.

Tories had broadly welcomed the budget, it wrote, but also quoted one Tory ex-minister as saying: “It doesn’t feel like a May election now. If that was the launch pad, Jesus wept.”

The Daily Telegraph took a more positive view, reporting that “millions” would benefit from Hunt’s “ambition to abolish National Insurance”.

It focused on the chancellor’s criticism of “double taxation” by income tax and NI and cited Treasury and Downing Street sources as saying the aim of getting rid of the employee element of NI “could be a key manifesto pledge”.

The Daily Mail wrote that prime minister Rishi Sunak is planning a “radical election pledge to abolish National Insurance in a bid to show the Tories are on the side of working people”. A “senior Tory source” told the paper such a promise could be “at the heart of this year’s election manifesto”.

But it reported a note of doubt among Conservatives, headlining its main story, “Will it be enough to see off Labour?” and adding that “some Tories ask: where was the game-changing big rabbit from Mr Hunt’s hat?”

The Times reported that Hunt had put “tax cuts for workers and parents at the core of his pre-election budget”, quoting him in its headline: “We’re turning the corner”.

It said the average worker would save £450 a year due to the NI cuts and highlighted that the budget “offered more help for middle class parents by increasing the amount they can earn before losing child benefit”.

The Express declared the country “ready for take off!”, reporting that the chancellor was “turbocharging the economy by putting more cash in people’s pockets”.

It said “thousands” would get a child benefit boost and “inflation will finally drop below 2%” as the UK was expected to “turn corner on growth”.

The Sun took a completely different angle on the budget, choosing to focus on the sale of a pair of Prince Harry’s underpants for £250,000.

The pair sold by party girl Carrie Royale were believed to have originated from the infamous Las Vegas strip party, it reported, adding in the same story that, “she spoke out as chancellor Jeremy Hunt yesterday swelled pay packets with a two pence cut in National Insurance plus a freeze on fuel and booze duty.”