The Budget announced by The Chancellor today supports education, aspiration, social justice and enterprise, including some big wins for our local area: £2m matched funding towards a dedicated Children's Emergency and Trauma Unit at Southampton General Hospital. Well done to colleagues Steve Brine MP and Royston Smith MP for their work on this campaign which will bring the first such unit to the South of England.
I was very pleased to see that Southern Domestic Abuse Services, supporting victims of Domestic Violence in Fareham, will receive £190k from the Tampon Tax Fund. I was delighted to speak about SDAS's work in Parliament on Monday.
Some of the key measures:
Maintaining sound public finances
Keeping public spending under control. In a further drive for efficiency and value for money, the Government plans to achieve a further £3.5 billion in savings by 2019/20 – that’s less than half of one per cent of government spending in that year.
Delivering stability in uncertain economic times. This Budget ensures we are prepared for the future. Thanks to the action we’ve taken the deficit will now fall to 2.9 per cent of national income in 2016/17, reaching a surplus of 0.5 per cent of GDP in 2019/20. Debt is forecast to fall to 74.7 per cent in 2020/21.
Ensuring taxes are paid. We’re going to legislate against property developers shifting profits offshore – raising over £500 million a year. We’ll raise a further £500 million by imposing a duty on public sector bodies to ensure the people they’re employing are paying the right tax and not pretending to work as contractors.
Helping working people save and making sure they keep more of the money they earn
Cutting taxes for working people so they can keep more of the money they earn. From April 2017 the tax free personal allowance will rise to £11,500, a tax cut for 31 million people that means a typical basic rate taxpayer will be paying over £1,000 less income tax then in 2010. The higher rate threshold will also increase to £45,000, a tax cut of over £400 to middle Britain. We’re also abolishing National Insurance Contributions for the self-employed, providing an £130 tax cut for Britain’s 3 million strong army of the self-employed.
Freezing fuel duty to help household budgets and support small firms. We have frozen fuel duty for the sixth year in a row, a saving of £75 a year to the average driver and £270 a year to a small business with a van. We’re also freezing beer and cider duty to back British pubs.
Introducing a new Lifetime ISA to help the next generation to save. We’re going to increase the ISA limit from just over £15,000 to £20,000 for everyone. For under 40s we’re introducing the Lifetime ISA. You won’t have to choose between saving for your first home or saving for your retirement – the Government is going to give you money to do both. For every £4 saved, the Government will give you £1. So put in £4,000 a year and the Government will give you £1,000 every year until you’re 50.
Reforms to improve schools and deliver real opportunity
Improving our schools so our children get the best start in life. We’re providing money so every school in England becomes an academy by 2020 or is in the process of conversion. We’re going to look at the case for teaching some form of maths to 18 for all pupils. We are introducing a fair National Funding Formula and ensuring that 90 per cent of schools that will benefit from the new formula will see those benefits by 2020.
A new sugar levy to encourage lower sugar levels in soft drinks – with the money raised used to support school sport. We are going to put a new sugar levy on the soft drinks industry so they reduce the sugar content of their products to tackle childhood obesity. The money raised will be used to double sports funding in primary schools and fund longer school days in secondary schools that offer their pupils a wider range of activities.
Lower taxes on business and enterprise to create jobs
Cutting taxes for small businesses. We will permanently double small business rate relief and increase the maximum threshold for relief meaning 600,000 small businesses will never pay business rates. We’ll also raise the threshold for the higher rate of business rates, meaning 250,000 small businesses will get a tax cut on their business rates. Corporation Tax will be cut to 17 per cent from 2020 – benefitting over a million firms.
Cutting Capital Gains Tax to boost enterprise. From 6 April this year, we are cutting the basic rate of Capital Gains Tax to 10 per cent and the higher rate to 20 per cent so that we encourage investment in business. We are also introducing a brand new 10 per cent rate on long-term investment in unlisted companies up to £10 million.
Reforming Stamp Duty on commercial properties – a tax cut for 90 per cent of transactions. We are simplifying the tax system for commercial property, making it easier for small firms to move to bigger premise.
Simplifying and modernising businesses taxes. To ensure we have a tax system that is competitive and fair, we are also modernising our tax rules to close loopholes that have allowed many large international companies to reduce their tax burdens to close to zero.
Investment to build homes and infrastructure
Speeding up our planning system to get Britain building. In the recent Spending Review we doubled national investment in housing. Budget 2016 streamlines the planning system and we’re accepting all of the recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission to keep Britain moving.
I was pleased to share my immediate response with Conservative Home: http://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2016/03/we-ask-our-panel-what-…