Chancellor George Osborne to deliver new budget on 8 July
Chancellor George Osborne has said he will deliver a new budget "for working people" on 8 July following the Conservative's shock electoral win last week.
"On the 8th of July I am going to take the unusual step of having a second budget of the year – because I don’t want to wait to turn the promises we made in the election into a reality," he wrote in The Sun newspaper.
The Tories have pledged to make £12bn in welfare cuts over the next five years – however only £2bn has been identified according to the Institiute for Fiscal Studies – leaving many eager to hear where else the axe will fall.
"We will protect the NHS and give it more funding each and every year, while making savings across Whitehall," he said.
"We'll crack down hard on tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning by the rich – because everyone should pay their fair share."
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts government borrowing will be cut to £41bn in 2016-17 and £14.5bn the year after. It predicts the government will be running a budget surplus of £4bn by 2018-19.
What Osborne referred to as the "unusual" timing of the budget will enable the Office for Budget Responsibility to draw up new forecasts.