UK's Hunt to cut National Insurance rate in budget, The Times reports

British finance minister Jeremy Hunt will cut the rate of social security contributions by two percentage points in his budget statement on Wednesday, possibly his last before an election expected later this year, The Times reported.

The cut to National Insurance Contributions will be the central measure of Hunt's budget after he decided against cutting income tax because of the tight fiscal room for manoeuvre available to him, the newspaper said on Tuesday. Hunt said over the weekend that forecasts produced by Britain's official budget watchdog "have gone against us."