Chancellor Rishi Sunak is being touted as a future Conservative Prime Minister and his £30bn giveaway mini-Budget was certainly a good way to make friends.
Among the stimulus measures was: a job retention scheme that pays employers £1,000 for each member of staff they retain after furlough, a six-month cut in VAT from 20% to 5% on leisure activities including hotels, attractions and dining out, no Stamp Duty on property sales up to £500,000 and a ‘green homes grant’ paid to make homes more energy efficient.
You will also be able to get a 50% discount (up to £10) on meals out in August, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Is that enough? While the Prime Minister’s own giveaways two weeks ago were met with a universal shrug, there was less lukewarm support for this plan. The pound held on to the gains it made over the previous week and strengthened by a further 1% against the US dollar.
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