Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced his Budget today and it includes promises of investment in education, the NHS and technology.
Here are the main points at a glance:
• An extra £2.8bn for the NHS in England - £350m granted now to allow trusts to plan for this winter and £1.6 billion in 2018/19, with the balance in 2019/20
• £3bn set aside over the next two years for Brexit preparations - plus further sums to be allocated if and when needed
• £500m to be invested in technological initiatives ranging from artificial intelligence to 5G and full fibre broadband
• Cancellation of fuel duty rise for both petrol and diesel which had been scheduled for April
• A £400m charging infrastructure for electric vehicles
• £40m to train maths teachers, while the number of trained computer science teachers will be tripled to 12,000
• Universal Credit reforms: the seven-day waiting period will be removed so entitlement starts on the day of the claim, plus any household needing an advance can access a full month’s payment within five days
• National Living Wage to rise by 4.4% from £7.50 an hour to £7.83 in April 2018
• Income tax threshold to rise to £11,850 and higher rate threshold to £46,350 in April 2018, leaving the typical basic rate tax payer £1,075 a year better off compared to 2010
• Tobacco duty escalator to continue at inflation plus 2%, with an additional 1% duty on hand rolling tobacco this year.
• Legislation to increase duty on high-strength low-quality alcohol from 2019, but duties on other ciders, wines, spirits and on beer to be frozen
• Cancellation of fuel duty rise for both petrol and diesel which had been scheduled for April.
• Income tax to be applied from April 2019 on digital economy royalties relating to UK sales which are paid to a low-tax jurisdiction, raising about £200m a year
• At least £44bn of capital funding, loans and guarantees over five years to support house-building and deliver 300,000 new homes a year
• Abolition of stamp duty for all first-time buyer home purchases up to £300,000
A version of this story first appeared in Gazette Live