UK recovery 'could let Osborne cut taxes by £7bn' before election

The UK's ongoing recovery from one of its worst spells for decades could give the Chancellor room to cut taxes by £7bn in 2015, a leading consultancy has said.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said the continued improvement in growth in the UK - coupled with the pickup in global growth - could give George Osborne scope to deliver some "modest" tax cuts. The cuts could be made in the run-up to next year's General Election, with the Government actually having more room for manoeuvre ahead of the May 2015 election than most assumed, the CEBR said. "The main constraint on the Chancellor introducing crowd-pleasing measures is the likely reaction of the financial markets. They will generally penalise such measures by forcing u...