UK Budget summary

The Chancellor has today unveiled the contents of this year's Budget in the House of Commons.

Here is a summary of the main announcements:

Tax and income support

• National Insurance, a payroll tax, cut by 2p in the pound for employees and the self-employed.
•  £5,000 "British ISA" tax allowance for individual savers to invest in UK-listed companies.
•  Longer repayment period for people on benefits taking out emergency budgeting loans from the government.
•  £90 fee to obtain a debt relief order scrapped.
•  Government fund for people struggling with cost of living pressures to continue for another six months.

Transport and energy

•  Fuel duty frozen again, with the 5p cut in fuel duty on petrol and diesel, due to end later this month will be kept for another year.
•  £160m deal for UK government to purchase site of planned Wylfa nuclear site in north Wales.
•  "Windfall" tax on the profits of energy firms, which had been scheduled to end in March 2028, extended until 2029.
•  Air passenger duty, the tax paid on flights, to go up for business class tickets.

Housing

•  Higher rate of tax paid on profits from selling property cut from 28% to 24%.
• Tax breaks for owners of holiday let properties scrapped.

Inflation and the economy

• Office for Budget Responsibility predicts UK economy to grow by 0.8% this year and 1.9% next year.
• Growth of 2% predicted for 2026, with 1.8% in 2027 and 1.7% in 2028.
• UK's inflation rate forecast to fall below 2% target "in just a few months' time".
• Underlying debt, excluding Bank of England debt, forecast to be 91.7% of GDP this year, rising to 92.8% next year.
• Overall day-to-day government spending to grow by 1% in real terms over next five years.

Business and investment

• Threshold at which small businesses must register to pay VAT raised from £85,000 to £90,000 from April.
• Tax reliefs for touring and orchestral productions, which had to been due to end in March 2025, made permanent.

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