proposed changes? hello, good morning. what to do about - proposed changes? hello, good morning. what to do about the | proposed changes? hello, good - morning. what to do about the rising number of people who are economically inactive. the government is calling this a massive rewiring of the benefits system. ukraine s president volodymyr zelensky has insisted his troops are holding out against russian mercenaries in the key strategic target of soledar. the town, in the eastern donetsk region has been the focus of fierce fighting in recent weeks. let s get the latest now from our correspondent, hugo bachega, who is in kyiv for us this morning. good morning.
we are seeing it. we publish every month our cost of living dashboard, we can see what s happening. and we are telling people and seeking to get the focus on that. but there s a bigger picture here as well, because even come april, you know, benefits will go up, there will be further support. the chancellor s autumn statement announcement was the fifth announcement that we ve had on cost of living since february, and there s been since the start of the pandemic, we ve seen a series of sticking plasters applied to the benefits system. and there has to be a point when we stand back and say, actually, the support that people are getting through the welfare state is not intrinsically linked to what they need. if you go right back to beveridge, beveridge was talking about a minimum standard of living below which people should not fall. and we re not in that position when people are constantly, you know, on the edge of crisis and having to be rescued from worse situations. now, just a few we
announcement that we ve had on cost of living since february, and there s been since the start of the pandemic, we ve seen a series of sticking plasters applied to the benefits system. and there has to be a point when we stand back and say, actually, the support that people are getting through the welfare state is not intrinsically linked to what they need. if you go right back to beveridge, beveridge was talking about a minimum standard of living below which people should not fall. and we re not in that position when people are constantly, you know, on the edge of crisis and having to be rescued from worse situations. now, just a few weeks ago, i mean, eight weeks ago, we had a budget that suggested that ministers didn t have this agenda at all. did you get to ministers? did you persuade them? why do you think this new set of ministers listened to those saying put benefits up ? well, we can never know. you know, that the combination
difficult afford to pay a bit more in these difficult times, the probably should difficult times, the probably should. but the daily mail is very good should. but the daily mail is very good at should. but the daily mail is very good at knowing the mood of its leadership and i think a lot of daily mail readers will be very sore in the daily mail readers will be very sore in the voters that may tie into the next general election. the highest welfare bill in next general election. the highest welfare bill in some next general election. the highest welfare bill in some economic - welfare bill in some economic commentators are saying that people are not encouraged to get back into work when the benefits system is still as generous as it is, according to them and on the welfare to work scheme, after the seven i have thousand pound threshold of universal credit, you are going to be taking 45p in the pound back and it would take a while for us to get to thejob market. find it w
challenge, a dilemma for the scottish government there is the cut in the highest rate of tax from 45-40p cut in the highest rate of tax from 45 40p for those earning £150,000 or above. the rate in scotland is 46 p. the basic rate has a different threshold here in scotland, and it is up to the scottish government what they do with the equivalent of that stamp duty tax. the treasury says it will allocate hundreds of millions of pounds to the scottish government to offset those in effect tax cuts elsewhere. as to what the scottish government does, john swinney says the government in edinburgh will look very carefully at their position. at their position. most of the chan . es at their position. most of the changes announced - at their position. most of the changes announced by i at their position. most of the changes announced by the i at their position. most of the - changes announced by the chancellor this morning will apply in wales at least when it comes to business taxes, nationa