The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne rose today to deliver his Budget statement to the House of Commons:
Here, at a glance, are his main announcements:
- The Government had cut the deficit by a third and helped businesses create 1.25 million new jobs.
- The UK will avoid a second quarter of negative growth and triple dip recession.
- 600,000 more jobs expected in 2013 than this time last year.
- Whitehall department budgets to be cut by 1% after £11 billion underspend this year, with protection for schools and health.
- Chancellor seeks £11.5 billion savings in spending review for 2015/16, up from previously announced £10 billion.
- Public sector pay cap of 1% extended by one year in 2015/16.
- Military to receive full recommended increase in "X-Factor" payment in May and to be exempted from changes to progression pay.
- Infrastructure plans to be boosted by £3 billion a year from 2015/16, a total of £15 billion over the next decade.
- New Support for small firms through Government procurement budgets, growth vouchers and controls on regulators' charges.
- The Government intends to take forward two major carbon capture and storage projects and offer new tax incentives for manufacture of ultra low emission vehicles.
- "Generous" new tax regime to promote early investment in shale gas.
- Capital Gains Tax holiday to be extended.
- Corporation tax reduced by a further 1% to 20% in April 2015.
- Small company and main rates of corporation tax to be merged at 20p.
- Large new package of measures on tax avoidance and evasion to bring in £3 billion in unpaid taxes.
- Tax free child care vouchers worth £1,200 per child and increased support for families with children on universal credit.
- Flat rate pension worth £144 a week to be brought forward to 2016.
- Cap-on social care costs to come in in 2017 and protect savings above £72,000, with the threshold for means tested help raised from £23,000 to £118,000.
- New Help-to-Buy scheme for those struggling to find mortgage deposits will include £3.5 billion for shared equity loans, and a Government interest-free loan worth 20% of the value of a new build house.
- New mortgage guarantee, sufficient to support £130 billion worth of loans, to help people who cannot afford a big deposit.
- September's planned fuel duty rise has been scrapped.
- Planned 3p rise in beer duty tax scrapped and replaced by a 1p cut in duty on a pint of beer.
- Beer duty escalator scrapped, but planned rises for all other alcohol duties maintained.
- Rise in personal allowance brought forward to 2014, meaning no income tax on the first £10,000 of earnings.
- New Employment Allowance will take the first £2,000 off the employer National Insurance bill of every company in the country.
- Around 450,000 small busineses - one third of all employers - will pay no employer National Insurance at all after introduction of Employment Allowance in April next year.
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