City says Osborne’s Autumn Statement won’t boost GDP
THE policies unveiled in George Osborne’s Autumn Statement are unlikely to boost growth, according to the City A.M. / PoliticsHome.com Voice of the City panel.
Some fifty-seven per cent of panellists said they were “sceptical” that the measures would boost growth, compared to 19 per cent who said they were “somewhat confident” and just one per cent who said they were “very confident”.
The most popular measure was a decision to cap public sector pay rises at one per cent from 2013, with 83 per cent of panellists saying they were favourable to the policy.
The least popular measure was Osborne’s decision to freeze capital gains tax exemptions, which had been expected to rise in line with inflation. Twenty-five per cent said they were “unfavourable to this policy”, although a similar amount said they were “favourable”.