CAN HUNT AND PM PULL RABBIT OUT OF HAT?

With the Government under pressure to cut taxes, the nation is asking:

- Sam Lister

LAST BUDGET BEFORE ELECTION

Hunt striving for 2p tax cut incentive

JEREMY Hunt insisted he has a "moral duty" to put money in people's pockets as he finalised a personal tax budget giveaway.

The Chancellor and Prime Minister were locked in talks over whether they could go further than planned to offer a 2p cut by finding money elsewhere.

Duty

Tory MPs are pushing for a big election sweetener after the tax burden reached a post-war high.

Mr Hunt said: "All Conservatives believe that the state has a moral duty to leave as much money in people's pockets as possible because it belongs to the people who earn it.

"But we all know it is not Conservative to cut taxes, for example, by increasing borrowing because then you are just passing on the bill to future generations. So what you saw in the Autumn Statement was a turning point, when we cut 2p off the National Insurance rate.

"We will hope to make some progress on that journey but we are going to do so in a responsible way."

Last month, the Daily Express revealed Mr Hunt was considering a penny off National Insurance contributions (NICs) in the Budget.

But he has since ordered officials to look at ways to fund a 2p cut to personal taxes.

Lowering income tax instead of NICS would help pensioners as well as workers but is more expensive. A penny off income tax would cost £7 billion- £2 billion more than cutting the same amount off National Insurance.

Both Mr Hunt and the PM indicated they were planning big tax cuts at the start of the year but have notably dampened down expectations in the last few weeks.