Coronavirus
Government response designed to be complementary to measures announced by Bank of England. Details a “£30bn stimulus” package.
Warns of temporary disruption to economy from COVID-19. It will be “tough” and “significant” but says things will return to normal.
“What everyone needs to know is that we are doing everything we can to keep this country, and our people, healthy and financially secure”. Budget aims to bring “stability and security”.
Coronavirus – NHS
NHS will get the resources it requires “whatever it needs, whatever it costs”.
£5bn emergency response fund for NHS and public services initially.
£6bn in new money for the NHS over this Parliament – separate to emergency fund.
Extra funding for taxman to secure money from tax evaders and avoiders – aimed at securing £4.4bn of extra revenue for the health service.
Coronavirus – workers
Statutory sick pay available to those advised to self-isolate – even if they haven’t presented with symptoms. More help for self-employed or those in gig economy through £500m welfare boost and new £500m hardship fund.
Government to meet cost of providing statutory sick pay for up to 14 days for workers in firms with up to 250 employees.
Coronavirus – businesses
Loans available to help small and medium-sized businesses. Business rates abolished for retail, leisure or hospitality business with a rateable value below £51,000.
£3,000 cash grant to businesses eligible for small business rates relief.
Tax
Fuel, beer, wine and spirit duties all frozen to help a “thriving” private sector
Business rates discount for pubs at £5,000 this year only
National Insurance threshold to rise from £8,632 to £9,500 saving a typical employee £104 annually.
No VAT on tampon products from January one we have left the EU.
Business
Corporation Tax remains at 19% and will not be cut to 17%.
Research and development investment rising to £22bn annually.
Reducing the lifetime limit for Entrepreneurs’ Relief from £10m to £1m – saving taxpayers’ £6bn.
‘Levelling-up’
£5bn to get superfast broadband into rural areas and £510m for shared rural mobile phone network.
£2.5bn pothole fund. “Biggest programme of public investment ever” with £27bn for strategic roads this Parliament.
New economic campus in northern England will include 750 staff from the Treasury and other departments – moving 22,000 civil servants outside central London eventually.
£640m extra for the Scottish Government, £360m for the Welsh Government, and £210m for the Northern Ireland Executive.
New devolution deal in West Yorkshire, with a directly-elected Mayor for the region and “London-style funding settlements” for all eight Metro Mayors worth £4.2bn.
Climate
£120m to help with flood clean-up and £5.2bn over six years for flood defences – a doubling of current package
Plastics packaging tax will charge manufactures and importers £200 per tonne on packaging made of less than 30% of recycled plastic.
Red diesel tax relief to be abolished in two years though farmers will keep it
Levy on electricity frozen from April 2022 in favour of rise on gas.
Housing
£1bn building safety fund to remove unsafe cladding from buildings above 18 metres tall following Grenfell fire and affordable homes programme extended.
Education
£1.5bn over five years to improve the further education college buildings.
Funding for up to 19 Maths schools on top of existing spending boost for education.
VAT on digital publications including books, newspapers, magazines and academic journals abolished from December.
Economic forecasts & spending
Budget package delivered within the government’s fiscal rules on spending “with room to spare”.
Independent Office for Budget Responsibility, without accounting for the impact of coronavirus, has forecast UK growth of 1.1% in 2020 , 1.8% in 2021.
OBR sees borrowing rising from 2.1% of GDP in 2019/20 to 2.4% in 2020/21 and 2.8% in 2021/22.
