The Chancellor has delivered his Budget, setting out the Government's economic priorities and policies for the forthcoming year.
In the Budget the Chancellor announced significant additional cost of living support, including:
- Extending the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) at £2,500 for three months. The EPG will then increase to £3,000 from 1 July and remain in place until 31 March 2024.
- Freezing fuel duty for a thirteenth year, saving the average driver around £200.
- Delivering a Brexit Pub Guarantee so draught duty will always be less than duty in supermarkets.
Overall, the Government's cost of living package amounts to £94 billion and means the average household will have benefitted from £3,300 of Government support. To find out more about the Government's overall cost of living support, go to Laura's cost of living hub.
Following recommendations from Laura and other MPs, the Chancellor also announced substantial reforms on childcare, including:
- Extending 30 hours of childcare a week to working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years.
- Paying Universal Credit childcare costs up front rather than in arrears.
- Introducing reforms to the childcare sector including changes to 2-year-old staff: child ratios from 1:4 to 1:5.
- Incentivising early years providers to expand the market.
The Chancellor also announced measures to boost enterprise, including:
- Introducing a £25 billion three-year tax cut for business investment.
- Increasing support for research and development, cementing the UK's position as a science superpower.
- Simplifying the tax system for small and medium sized businesses.
- Launching a competition through Great British Nuclear to build Small Modular Reactors in the UK and including nuclear energy in the green taxonomy.
- Providing up to £20 billion funding for early deployment of carbon capture usage and storage – unlocking investment and job creation across the UK.
- Launching 12 Investment Zones, catalysing high-potential, knowledge-intensive growth clusters across the UK to boost economic growth and new jobs. We are launching a re-focused Investment Zone
Under these measures, the UK will still have the lowest Corporation Tax rate in the G7, with only 10% of businesses will paying Corporation Tax at 25%. The UK’s rate will still be lower than the US, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada.
And to boost employment, the Chancellor announced that the Government will be:
- Increasing the annual pension allowance to £60,000 and abolishing the Lifetime Allowance.
- Establishing a new Universal Support programme for disabled people and the long-term sick.
- Abolishing the Work Capability Assessment and increasing the Administrative Earning Threshold to 18 hours.
Finally, the Government will continue to support our communities and the issues that matter to them by:
- Investing £200 million in maintaining and improving local roads and potholes. In West Berkshire, this will mean an additional £957,000 for fixing roads.
- Providing funding for an additional 30 projects through the existing £150 million Community Ownership Fund. This will enable more communities to take ownership of assets at risk of closure.
- Confirming the Levelling Up Fund Round 3, providing more opportunity to level up places across the UK. Following the success of the £3.8 billion already invested across the UK rounds 1 and 2.
Further information about the Budget can be found on the Government's website: