A new levy on tax-avoiding multinationals immediately dubbed the Google Tax was the stand-out surprise measure in a nakedly political Autumn Statement today in which the Chancellor called on voters to allow him “to finish the job” in repairing the public finances.
With just five months until the General Election, Mr Osborne was forced to concede the budget deficit would be higher than expected this year and next, but insisted the public finances would then improve faster than expected.
While claiming the Budget would “tighten the public finances slightly”, he was also able to offer some pre-election crowd-pleasers including the abolition of Air Passenger Duty for children and allowing widows and widowers to inherit ISAs tax free.
The Chancellor also announced a reform of Stamp