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27+ favourite things people said about the budget

Oonagh Keating. Updated March 16th, 2023

Jeremy Hunt‘s first normally scheduled budget – or Spring Statement – has happened, after his emergency Autumn Statement undid some of the harm from Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng‘s economy-ruining mini budget.

He referenced that bit of firefighting, without qualification.

Ahead of the Commons statement, we knew much of what to expect – due to leaks of things like keeping the energy price guarantee for three more months and expanding eligibility for childcare.

Hunt introduced his four Es – Enterprise, Employment, Education and Everywhere, with ‘everywhere’ presumably having been bunged on the end because it’s a lot trickier to say ‘three Es’.

‘Environment’ was right there for the taking, but instead he declared nuclear power sustainable.

He introduced the ‘Brexit Pubs Guarantee’, which promises lower tax on draught drinks in pubs than their equivalents in supermarkets.

There were only two minor issues with the move, intended to encourage people to go to pubs instead of drinking at home – people can’t afford to go to the pub and the EU had no input on how drinks were taxed, so Brexit has nothing to do with it.

The statement has been dubbed ‘The back to work budget’, due to measures to encourage the over-50s, stay-at-home parents and those on disability benefits back into the workplace – sadly not with an above-inflation wage increase.

Here’s a glimpse at how Twitter reacted.

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