Budget 2018: Full at-a-glance guide to the main points

money, cash, sterling
What will the 2018 Budget mean for you?

 

2018 Budget at a glance

Public finances

  • Public borrowing in 2018 to be £11.6bn lower than forecast in March, representing 1.2% of gross domestic product, (GDP) the total value of goods produced and services provided
  • Borrowing as a share of GDP to rise to 1.4% next year
  • Borrowing to total £31.8bn, £26.7bn. £23.8bn, £20.8bn and £19.8bn in next five years
  • Debt as share of GDP peaked at 85.2% in 2016-17, falling to 83.7% this year and to 74.1% by 2023-24
  • 1.2% annual average growth in departmental spending promised

Economic snapshot

  • 2018 growth forecast downgraded to 1.3% from 1.5% in March, due to impact of bad
  • spring weather
  • Forecasts raised slightly to 1.4%, 1.4%, 1.5% and 1.6% in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
  • 3.3m more people in work since 2010 and 800,000 more jobs forecast by 2022
  • Wages growth at its highest in nearly a decade.

Personal taxation and minimum wage

  • Personal allowance threshold to rise from £11,850 to £12,500 in April.
  • The higher rate income tax threshold to rise from £46,350 to £50,000 in April.
  • After that, the two rates will rise in line with inflation.
  • National Living Wage increasing by 4.9%, from £7.83 to £8.21 an hour, from April 2019.

Housing market

  • First-time buyers of shared equity homes up to £500,000 to be exempt from stamp duty.
  • £500m for Housing Infrastructure Fund to enable a further 650,000 homes to be built.
  • Lettings relief limited to where property owner is in shared occupancy with tenant.
  • New partnerships with housing associations in England to deliver 13,000 homes.
  • Guarantees of up to £1bn for smaller house-builders.

Defence spending

  • An extra £160m for counter-terrorism police
  • An extra £1bn for cyber-capabilities and nuclear submarines
  • £10m for mental health care for veterans
  • £1m to fund school trips to World War one battlefields
  • £1.7m in Holocaust education programmes

Alcohol, tobacco and fuel

  • Beer, cider and spirits duties to be frozen.
  • Cost of a bottle of wine duty to rise by 8p, in line with inflation, in February.
  • Tobacco duty will continue to rise by inflation plus 2%.
  • A packet of 20 cigarettes will go up by 33p at 18.00 GMT.
  • A ten gram pack of cigars goes up by 17p.
  • Fuel duty to be frozen for ninth year in a row.
  • Remote Gaming Duty to increase to 21% for online gambling on “games of chance”.
Beer, cider and spirits duties are to be frozen

 

Business and digital

  • New 2% digital services tax on UK revenues of big technology companies
  • Profitable companies with global sales of more than £500m will be liable
  • Private finance initiative (PFI) contracts to be abolished in future
  • New centre of excellence to manage existing deals “in the taxpayer’s interest”
  • Annual investment allowance to be increased from £200,000 to £1m for two years
  • Contribution of small companies to apprenticeship levy to be reduced from 10% to 5%
  • Business rates bill for firms with a rateable value of £51,000 or less to be cut by third.
  • Measure to benefit 90% of independent companies, cutting bill by £8,000
  • £900m in business rates relief for small firms and £650m to rejuvenate high streets
  • New 100% mandatory business rates relief for all public lavatories.
  • Extending changes to the way self-employment status is taxed

Education and health

  • Confirmation of an extra £20.5bn for the NHS over the next five years
  • A minimum extra £2bn a year for mental health services
  • New mental health crisis centres, providing support in accident and emergency units
  • More mental health ambulances and a 24-hour mental health crisis hotline.
  • An extra £700m for councils, for care for the elderly and those with disabilities
  • £10m for air ambulances
  • A one-off £400m to help schools buy “the little extras they need”
  • Funding for 10 University Enterprise Zones

Regional funding

  • An additional £950m for the Scottish government and £550m for the Welsh Government
  • £320m for a Northern Ireland Executive in the period to 2020-21
  • New City and Growth deals for Belfast, north Wales and the Tay Cities area
  • £2m for Belfast to help recover from Primark fire

Environment and energy

  • A new tax on non-recycled plastic packaging
  • No tax on takeaway coffee cups but still possible in the future
  • £60m for planting trees in England
  • £10m to deal with abandoned waste sites

Transport and infrastructure

  • £30bn for England’s roads, including repairs to motorways and potholes
  • A 30% growth in infrastructure spending
  • Opening the use of e-passport gates at airports
  • Air Passenger Duty to be indexed in line with inflation

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