Spring Budget 2024: Budget fallout continues & US to build port for Gaza aid

Editorial Friday 8 March 2024. 

Friday’s front pages continue their coverage of the fallout from the Spring Budget, which Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced earlier in the week. Several papers highlight fears over how the tax cuts will be paid for with one publication suggesting it could blow a £40bn hole in finances. Another paper questions why neither of the main two parties are willing to explain spending cuts before the upcoming 2024 election. 

Elsewhere, most of the papers cover separate domestic stories. Several papers feature images of Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, who “broke his silence” over accusations of inappropriate behaviour in a press conference on Thursday.

On the international front, there’s light coverage of Joe Biden’s plans to build a port on the shore of Gaza, which will help deliver much-needed aid. The papers see the US move as a sign of America’s growing frustration with Israel, especially the IDFs constant blocking of aid truck deliveries. 

‘Spring Budget 2024: The fallout continues’

The Daily Mail’s front page screams “Don’t leave our country defenceless” in response to a damning report revealing a £29bn shortfall in armed forces funding. With scathing criticism directed towards the Prime Minister’s neglect of defence, the paper denounces the lack of spending in the Budget as “scandalous” – noting the growing instability around the world. The paper says the armed forces have “rarely been in such a hideously parlous state”.

According to The Financial Times, the Chancellor’s decision to halt a scheme allowing local authorities to retain proceeds from council house sales is causing uproar. Jeremy Hunt’s move, made in Budget deliberations despite resistance from the Department of Levelling Up, is seen as a £200m clawback. While the Treasury insists it’s not a cut but the end of a temporary policy, one Lincolnshire council leader laments the significant impact it had.

In The Mirror, the fallout from the Budget sparks fury among pensioners as experts warn of detrimental effects on eight million retirees. Dubbed “Pension Pinchers,” the measures are branded a “budget bombshell,” eliciting strong condemnation from the Silver Voices campaign group, who describe older citizens as “hopping mad.” The Mirror’s editorial condemns the government’s actions “only this government would raid the incomes of the elderly to cover the cost of its economic mismanagement”.

The i reports mounting pressure on both Conservative and Labour parties to clarify their plans for spending cuts ahead of the next general election. Economic experts criticise the parties’ silence on the matter, foreseeing the need for real-term reductions in public services. In Birmingham, where budgetary struggles have been pronounced, the local council faces bankruptcy, potentially forcing some special needs children to study from home due to cuts in services.

‘US to build port for Gaza aid’

The Guardian says the port is due to be built “in the next few weeks” by engineers who “will not need to step ashore in Gaza”.

The FT features a striking image of bundles of supplies being dropped into Gaza, as the US plans an “emergency mission” to set up a port on the coast to help supply people living there with humanitarian aid.
The Times says Biden’s port is a sign of America’s frustration with Israel and its obstruction of aid being delivered in trucks. A senior US official tells the paper: “We are not waiting on the Israelis. This is a moment for American leadership.”