Ever since they won a small majority in 2015, the Conservatives have struggled to pass further austerity measures. They were forced to abandon planned cuts to tax credits and disability benefits. Philip Hammond dropped the proposed increase in National Insurance on the self-employed just a week after the Budget.
With Parliament newly hung, austerity will all but end. The DUP, who the Conservatives will depend on for their majority, have long opposed aggressive spending cuts. Their manifesto called for the abolition of the “bedroom tax” and the maintenance of universal pensioner benefits and the state pension “triple lock”.
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