Chancellor offers billions of pounds of help for households amid global economic storms

British Chancellor John Healey announced support to help households through the “global economic storms” with subsidies for energy bills and a freeze in fuel duty for drivers in the first budget plan of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government. Healey told parliament on Wednesday he would raise taxes on banks, gambling and income for savers and landlords while also tightening value-added tax rules for online marketplaces – such as Amazon and Temu – to fund the package. Healey said the economy faced a hit from the conflict in the Gulf as well as from global trade tensions and the war in Ukraine. “Those are the storms we face. We can’t wish them away. We must choose the course we steer through them,” he said. Around 20 million households living in lower-valued homes would receive a £100 payment to help offset their rising energy bills, costing £2. 6 billion, he said.

Healey also said he would keep a freeze on the level of fuel duty rates, extending a five-pence temporary cut introduced in 2022 until at least July. GROWTH DOWNGRADE FOR 2027 Britain’s economy has withstood the energy price shock from the Iran war so far. But rising inflation and the prospect of higher interest rates are likely to slow the economy next year. Gross domestic product was on course to expand by 1. 2% in 2026, up only slightly from a previous forecast of 1. 1% announced by the Office for Budget Responsibility in March. The OBR now expected GDP to grow by 1. 0% in 2027, down sharply from its March forecast of 1. 6%, Healey said. Economic output was seen expanding by 1. 6%, 1. 8% and 1. 7% in 2028, 2029 and 2030 respectively. Those projections compared with the budget watchdog’s previous growth forecasts of 1. 6% in 2028 and 1. 5% in 2029 and in 2030. On entering Downing Street in July, Burnham promised…