
Forecasts
- Growth: 1.5 per cent this year (down from the two per cent forecast by the OBR earlier this year); 1.4 per cent in 2018 (down from 1.6 per cent); 1.3 per cent in 2019 (down from 1.7 per cent); 1.3 per cent in 2020 (down from 1.9 per cent); and 1.5 per cent in 2021 (down from two per cent).
- Borrowing: £49.9 billion in 2017/18; £39.5 billion in 2018/19; £34.7 billion in 2019/20; £32.8 billion in 2020/21; £30.1 billion in 2021/22; and £25.6 in 2022/23.
Brexit
- £3 billion set aside for Brexit preparations for “every possible outcome”.
NHS
- £350 million in emergency winter funding.
- An extra £2.8 billion in NHS funding.
- An additional £10 billion capital spending on the health service in this Parliament.
Housing
- Stamp Duty abolished entirely for first-time buyers on properties costing up to £300,000, or the first £300,000 of properties costing up to £500,000.
- New powers for councils to raise an extra 100 per cent council tax on empty properties.
- £15.3 billion new financial support for house building over the next five years.
- £1.5 billion to help smaller construction firms.
- Five new Garden Towns.
- £28 million extra funding for the communities around Grenfell Tower.
- A review, led by Oliver Letwin, of why the number of new housing starts lags so far behind the number of planning permissions granted – with the possibility of then using compulsory purchase and other punitive measures if necessary.
Tech
- A programme of support for new technologies, including: £540 million on infrastructure and other support for electric cars; £500 million on other tech including Artificial Intelligence and a 5G mobile network; £2.3 billion on Research and Development; and increasing the R&D tax credit to 12 per cent.
- Two new organisations to encourage growth through new technologies: a Regulators’ Pioneer Fund, to encourage regulatory innovation; and a Geospatial Data Commission, to identify ways to develop new uses of mapping data.
- A new tax on digital royalties, targeted at UK sales whose revenue goes to a low-tax destination elsewhere, which the Chancellor expects to raise £200 million.
- £30 million to fund distance learning of digital skills.
Education
- £20 million to help Further Education colleges introduce T-levels.
- 8,000 new computer science teachers, costing around £84 million.
- £177 million to encourage more pupils to study maths at school, including a maths premium paid to schools, and expanding a programme to improve the teaching of maths.
Transport
- A freeze on Air Passenger Duty for short-haul flights, and for economy tickets on long-haul flights, funded by a rise on premium long-haul tickets and on private jets.
- A further freeze on fuel duty.
- An increase in VED for dirtier diesel cars, and £220 million for a clean air fund for local authorities.
- £1.7 billion Transforming Cities Fund, intended to provide improved transport links for devolved cities, the Northern Powerhouse and the Midlands Engine.
- A new 26-30 railcard.
- Funding the £337 million replacement of rolling stock on the Tyne and Wear Metro, and a £30 million trial to improve mobile and internet connectivity on TransPennine trains.
Devolution
- Increased spending power for the devolved nations: £2 billion for Scotland; £1.2 billion for Wales; £660 million for Northern Ireland.
- A second devolution deal for the West Midlands Combined Authority, targeting productivity.
- Agreement, imminently, of a new devolution deal for the three North of Tyne local authorities.
- Consultation on a City Deal for Belfast.
- VAT refunds for Scottish emergency services.
Welfare and Income
- Various measures – including shorter waits for payments, and longer repayment periods – to improve Universal Credit, to the value of £1.5 billion.
- Further increases to the Income Tax personal allowance, to £11,850, and the higher rate Income Tax threshold, to £46,350.
- National Living Wage up to £7.83 an hour.
Businesses
- Accelerating the business rates switch to CPI.
- A one-year extension on the business rates discount for pubs.
- No reduction in the VAT threshold, but an exploration of how to improve the application of the tax.
- A freeze on alcohol duties across beer, wine, spirits, and cider, except for White Ciders.
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