Chancellor Rishi Sunak has delivered his Autumn Budget and Spending Review.
The main points are:
Chancellor began speaking at 12:34pm
Employment is up and wages are rising, he said.
Budget prepares for a new economy post-Covid, he said. “An economy fit for a new age of optimism.”
Higher inflation was a global problem, said the Chancellor, with the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) saying it will hit 4% over the next year.
Chancellor said the OBR believes the economy will be back at pre-pandemic level at the turn of the year, earlier than it thought in March. Growth is now forecast to be 6.5% this year, followed by 6% next year.
Health spending will increase by £44bn to more than £177bn.
Investment in housing will total nearly £24bn.
A levy on housing developers with profits of more than £25m, worth 4%, will help fund a £5bn fund to remove unsafe cladding.
Museums and cultural attractions to receive £800m and the tax relief for museums and galleries, due to end in March next year, will be extended for another two years.
R&D incentives will be expanded to cover cloud computing and data.
Innovate UK’s budget will be increased to £1bn.
British Business Bank’s regional fund increased to £1.6bn.
Change in visa requirement and a new scale-up visa to attract top international talent.
Chancellor says: “We are making this country a science and technology superpower.”
Extra £2.2bn for courts and rehabilitation services.
9m passengers will see a cut in air duty as it is reduced on flights between UK domestic airports.
Business rates to be made fairer and new business rate improvement relief introduced.
50% discount on business rates for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses.
Reform of alcohol duty rates based on strength of drink and a small producer relief expanded to include small cider makers. Sparkling wines will pay same rate as still wine of same strength.
Cut in duty to draught beer and cider – a long-term investment in British pubs and equivalent to a cut of 3p a pint.
Planned rise in fuel duty cancelled.
The Chancellor sat down at 1:43pm.
