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Chancellor Rishi Sunak is delivering his first Budget in the House of Commons, announcing the government’s tax and spending plans for the year ahead.
Here is a summary of the main points, which will be updated as he speaks.
Coronavirus response
*£5bn emergency response fund to support the NHS and other public services
*Statutory sick pay will be paid to all those who choose to self-isolate, even if they don’t have symptoms
*Contributory employment Support Allowance benefit claimants will be able to claim sick pay on day one, not after a week
*£500m hardship fund to help vulnerable people
*Firms with fewer than 250 staff will be refunded for sick pay payments for two weeks
*Small firms will be able to access “business interruption” loans of up to £1.2m
*Business rates will be abolished for firms in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors with a rateable value below £51,000
Personal taxation and wages
*National Insurance Contributions tax threshold to rise from £8,632 to £9,500 – saving people just over £100 a year
*0.5% VAT on women’s sanitary products, the tampon tax, to be scrapped
Alcohol, tobacco and fuel
*Fuel duty for be frozen for the 10th consecutive year
*Duties on spirits, beer, cider and wine to be frozen
*Business rate discounts for pubs to rise from £1,000 to £5,000 this year
Business, digital and science
*System business rates to be reviewed later this year
*Entrepreneurs’ Relief will be retained, but lifetime allowance will be reduced from £10m to £1m
*£5bn to get gigabit-capable broadband into the hardest to reach places
*Science Institute in Weybridge, Surrey to get a £1.4bn funding boost
*An extra £900m for research into nuclear fusion, space and electric vehicles.
The state of the economy
*Economy predicted to grow 1.1% this year, not taking into account the impact of coronavirus
*Annual output forecast to be 1.8% in 2021-22, 1.5% in 2022-23 and 1.3% in 2023-24
*Inflation forecast of 1.4% this year, increasing to 1.8% in 2021-2022
Environment and energy
*Plastic packaging tax to come into force from April 2022
*Manufacturers and importers whose products have less than 30% recyclable material will be charged £200 per tonne
*Fuel subsidies for off-road vehicles – known as red diesel – will be scrapped “for most sectors” in two years time
*Farmers and rail operators will be excluded
*£120m in emergency relief for communities affected by this winter’s flooding and £200m for flood resilience
*Total investment in flood defences to be doubled to £5.2bn over next five years
*£640m “nature for climate fund” to protect natural habitats, including 30,000 hectares of new trees
Transport, infrastructure and housing
*More than £600bn is set to be spent on roads, rail, broadband and housing by the middle of 2025
*Ministers say this represents the largest capital investment in infrastructure for generations
*£2.5bn will be made available to fix potholes and resurface roads over five years
The state of the public finances
*Public sector net borrowing set to rise this year to 2.1% of GDP, rising to 2.4% and 2.8% in subsequent years
Brexit and international trade
Nations and regions
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