First Spring Statement replaces traditional Budget

The first Spring Statement will be delivered by the Chancellor a week from today on 13 March, replacing the traditional March Budget. The Budget in March 2017 signalled the end of the normal timetable for the Government’s fiscal reports. It was followed by another Budget last November – which will be the new slot for all Budgets in future. That replaced the traditional Autumn Statement and meant there is now just one major fiscal event in each year.Next Tuesday, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, will respond to the forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).In contrast to the previous Autumn Statements, which were akin to mini-Budgets, there will be no spending increases during the Spring Statement, no tax changes and it will last only 15-20 minutes, it was reported last month.The UK was the only major advanced economy to make major changes to the tax system twice a year, the Government said when announcing the change.Businesses, economy and tax experts like the International Monetary Fund, Institute for Government, the CBI, Chartered Institute of Taxation and the IFS were calling for the alteration. It will mean businesses and people face less frequent changes to the tax system, helping to promote certainty and stability.Finance Bills continue to follow the Budget in the usual fashion, with the aim to reach Royal Assent in the spring, before the start of the following tax year. This change in timetable will help Parliament to scrutinise tax changes before the tax year where most take effect.Most measures proposed at a Budget will be subject to policy consultation in the spring and publication of draft legislation in the summer, before being legislated in the Finance Bill after the following Budget. To “allow for an earlier stage of involvement on key strategic challenges”, the Chancellor has said that he may launch consultations on how to address these longer-term issues at the Spring Statement.The Chartered Institute of Taxation Tax Policy welcomed the change in Budget timetable, with its director John Cullinane saying: “The move to a single fiscal event is something the CIOT and our Better Budgets partners had argued for. We believed that it would enable more time to be spent on consultation and scrutiny and would reduce the strain that two big fiscal events a year put on government and consultees alike. This isn’t just about enabling organisations like CIOT to do more. It offers more opportunity for outreach to bring in views from a wider range of consultees.”

First Spring Statement replaces traditional Budget

Related items

News from Twitter