The Swindonian bring you the Budget news as it happens – please share your views in our comments section and on social media.
12:35 and the 2020 budget speech starts with Rishi Sunak discussing the corona virus.
The budget has its own tag line ‘This Budget Gets It Done’
NHS
The government will give the NHS “whatever extra resources” it needs during the coronavirus outbreak, Chancellor Rishi Sunak says.
“Whatever extra resources our NHS needs to cope with Covid-19 – it will get, whether it’s research for a vaccine, recruiting thousands of returning staff, or supporting our brilliant doctors and nurses… whether it’s millions of pounds or billions of pounds… whatever it needs, whatever it costs, we stand behind our NHS.”
“Our manifesto promised that for shops, cinemas, restaurants and music venues… with a rateable value of less than £51,000… we would increase their business rates retail discount to 50%.
“Today I can go further, and take the exceptional step, for this coming year, of abolishing their business rates altogether.”
Going a step further some small businesses that would not have been covered within this change have also benefitted.
“Museums, art galleries, and theatres; caravan parks and gyms; small hotels and B&Bs; sports clubs, night clubs; club houses, guest houses. They would not benefit from today’s measure – but they could be some of the hardest-hit.
“So, for this year, I have decided to extend the 100% retail discount to them as well.
“That means any eligible retail, leisure or hospitality business with a rateable value below £51,000 will, over the next financial year, pay no business rates whatsoever.
Pubs will receive a business rates cut increase from the already revealed £1,000 to £5,000 for this year.
“I can announce that, exceptionally, for this year, the business rates discount for pubs will not be £1,000 – it will be £5,000. And I’m also pleased to announce that the planned rise in beer duty will also be cancelled.”
Tax and National Insurance
By 2024 the national living wage will increase to £10.50ph.
Increasing the National Insurance threshold from £8,632 to £9,500 – giving 31million people a typical tax cut of £104.
”I am freezing duties for cider and wine drinkers as well.
“For only the second time in almost 20 years, that’s every single one of our alcohol duties frozen.”
“From April 2022, we will charge manufacturers and importers £200 per tonne on packaging made of less than 30% recycled plastic.
“That will increase the use of recycled plastic in packaging by 40% – equal to carbon savings of nearly 200,000 tonnes.”
“Sectors using red diesel are some of the biggest contributors to our air quality problem – emitting nearly 10% of the most noxious gases polluting the air of cities like London,” he tells MPs.
“This is a tax relief on nearly 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year”, which, he says, is the same as the entire population of London and Greater Manchester taking a return flight to New York.
“It’s been a £2.4bn tax break for pollution that’s also hindered the development of cleaner alternatives. So I will abolish the tax relief for most sectors.”
