Wednesday’s 'sticking plaster' budget will 'fail to cover up Tory failures', a Liberal Democrat prospective MP has said.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed a 2p cut in national insurance for employees and the self-employed this week.

He said the 2p reduction will mean the ‘lowest effective personal tax rate since 1975’.

Calum Miller, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Bicester and Woodstock and county councillor for Otmoor, said: "Residents in Bicester and Woodstock will still pay more for food, housing and in tax.

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"People won’t be fooled by the deception of a Chancellor who claims to be cutting tax when everyone knows taxes have gone up by stealth and will hit a new high by 2028-29. 

"By freezing personal allowances, Hunt will get almost two pounds more in income tax for every pound he claims to give back in National Insurance."

The Chancellor said he will maintain his plan to increase public spending by one per cent a year over the course of the next parliament, although The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)  said the plans “imply no real growth in public spending per person over the next five years”.

He pledged to increase public sector productivity, including a package of NHS reforms which will “slash the 13 million hours lost by doctors and nurses every year” as a result of obsolete IT systems with a £3.4 billion investment.

He also promised an additional £2.5 billion for the NHS to “meet pressures in the coming year”.

And he confirmed he will replace the current non-dom tax regime with a “modern, simpler and fairer residency-based system”.

The move lays a trap for Labour which had promised to scrap the status and put the money into public services including the NHS.

Mr Miller said the Budget 'fails to cover deep wounds in the NHS and many public services. We can all see that public services are in crisis with rising costs and growing demand.

"Tory mismanagement of the economy means budgets for many services will fall by 2.3 per cent each year from 2025-6.

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"At the same time, debt will rise to a historic high with more spent on debt interest payments."

In his Budget speech Mr Hunt also said GDP is set to grow faster than previously forecast by the budget watchdog the OBR.

“Because we have turned the corner on inflation, we will soon turn the corner on growth,” Mr Hunt said.

Mr Miller said: "Jeremy Hunt has served in the Tory cabinet for five and a half years since 2015.

"He owns these failures, alongside the rest of this clapped-out government.

"We need a General Election now.”