Pensioners Slid Down The Pecking Order In Jeremy Hunt's Spring Budget

Economic analysts have noted that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has taken a different path from his predecessors such as David Cameron's chancellor George Osborne, with decisions in the Spring Budget that could leave workers better off, but pensioners worse off. 

On Wednesday, the Chancellor told Parliament that from 6 April, employees’ National Insurance will be cut by 2p, from 10 per cent to 8 per cent, following a previous 2p cut in the Autumn Statement. Self-employed national insurance will be cut from 8 per cent to 6 per cent. 

According to analysis by the Resolution Foundation think tank, the Spring Budget prioritised “workers over pensioners”, who will see taxes rise, while workers will receive a cut. 

Pensioners are already mostly exempt from paying National Insurance, therefore will not receive that cut that employees will benefit from.But  pensioners are not exempt from Income Tax or tax threshold freezes. 

Torsten Bell, the think tank’s chief executive said that the decisions marked a “staggering reversal” of the approach taken by previous Conservative governments, and are “undoubtedly good economics, even if the politics are a harder sell”. 

James Smith, research director at the Resolution Foundation, told PoliticsHome he found the shift away from pensioners "striking" after successive Conservative governments had seemed keen to offer something directly to older age groups. 

"What you’re seeing now is these giveaways focussed on employees at the expense of other groups," Smith said.  

It is considered to be a particularly necessary move by Hunt when over-65s are the only age demographic left who can be relied upon to vote Conservative, whereas younger age groups say the party has little to offer them, according to multiple