On 3 March, UK chancellor Rishi Sunak announced his latest set of fiscal measures in the Budget.
The economic disruption created by the pandemic, as the UK continues to find its feet after Brexit, set the chancellor a challenge. In his latest blog, Henry Thompson, head of public affairs at the IFoA, recaps the Budget statement and how it will impact on the IFoA’s policy work during the coming year (bit.ly/3vxYOYu).
Highlights for the IFoA include the launch of the UK Infrastructure Bank to boost investment and accelerate net-zero progress, as well as the UK’s first sovereign green bond. These will feed into our sustainability work, and be important in the run-up to COP26. The long-term funding of social care – raised in the IFoA’s Budget submission (bit.ly/3rTfMyw) – remains unresolved.
Prior to the Budget, the IFoA co-ordinated a joint letter (bit.ly/3eH1aOY) with Big Issue founder Lord Bird, urging the chancellor not to place an unmanageable burden on younger generations. It was good to see intergenerational fairness feature in Budget commentary.
Questions remain around when, how or even if it will be possible to return to past financial resilience. The chancellor highlighted the UK’s current borrowing levels, which are the highest they have been outside wartime and cannot be expected to continue long term.
