Despite the massive challenges of recent years, Britain's economy has grown faster than Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and many other countries since 2010. Our plan to cut price increases worked: inflation has come down from 11% in 2022 to just over 2%.
To help with the cost of living we froze fuel duty and cut the rate of national insurance by 4p in the pound, which has saved the average worker about £900 a year. I support the triple lock on the state pension, which will continue. The current state pension is £169.50 a week, compared to £144.40 a week in 2010 (in today's money), so the increases under the triple lock have made those on the basic state pension about £1,300 a year better off, even after inflation.
Because we have focused tax cuts on those who earn the least, the average earner in the UK now has the lowest personal tax rate since 1975: a lower rate than in America, France or Germany. But I will continue to press ministers to increase the income tax personal allowance to take more working people and more pensioners out of paying tax.