Budget 2023 – live updates: Pension lifetime allowance and childcare changes at a glance

OBR forecasts biggest fall in living standards on record as Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer accuses chancellor Jeremy Hunt of ‘permanent tax cut for wealthy’

Budget 2023: Pension lifetime allowance cap abolished

Jeremy Hunt has promised a major expansion in state-funded childcare and tax breaks for businesses in Budget measures aimed at boosting economic growth.

The Chancellor said a recession would be avoided and inflation would fall dramatically as the economy was “proving the doubters wrong” in his statement to the Commons on Wednesday.

In an effort to remove barriers to work, he promised up to 30 hours a week of free childcare for eligible households in England with children as young as nine months.

Mr Hunt resisted demands from Tory MPs to scrap April’s increase in corporation tax from 19% to 25%, but he instead promised a set of reliefs to help firms reduce their bills.

And as part of a package aimed at helping with the cost of living, the Chancellor said the energy price guarantee will be extended at its current level from April to June.

However, fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast the biggest fall in living standards on record.

The OBR upgraded its growth forecast for 2024 from 1.3% to 1.8%, but downgraded predictions for the following years to 2.5% in 2025, 2.1% in 2026 and 1.9% in 2027.

Key Points

• Watchdog forecasts biggest fall in living standards on record
• UK will avoid recession in 2023, chancellor says
• Chancellor scraps lifetime allowance limit on pensions
• Hunt announces huge reform in childcare to help parents get back into work
• Hunt announces ‘biggest change to our welfare system in a decade’
• Government will add £11bn to defence budget over five years
• Chancellor will invest over £200m in local regeneration projects in widescale levelling-up series

[15 March 2023 20:40 · Sam Rkaina]

Just three in ten say Spring budget will be good for the economy

Further findings from the YouGov poll below.

• Three in ten (28%) say Chancellor’s budget will be good for the economy
• One in five (22%) say it will be bad for the economy

2019 Conservative voters are more likely to say that the measures will do a good job of tackling inflation and the cost of living – two in five (39%) say so.

Conversely, just 11% of 2019 Labour voters think the same, with the majority (54%) saying that the measures will do a bad job.

[15 March 2023 21:00 · Sam Rkaina]

Budget 2023 in graphs from fuel duty cut to energy price cap

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has delivered his so-called “back to work” Budget for 2023 – striking a surprisingly upbeat tone that was a far cry from his dour warnings of difficulty when he entered office last October.

As ever with a budget, there are thousands of figures behind the decisions.

The Independent has gathered a series of graphs that provide context to the changes - click here for the full story.

(Press Association Images)

[15 March 2023 21:20 · Jane Dalton]

Winners and losers of changes to income tax, bills, pensions and childcare costs

Sean O’Grady analyses who will be better off and who will be worse off:

[15 March 2023 21:40 · Jane Dalton]

UK migration forecast to defy Rishi Sunak’s pledge to cut numbers

Net migration to Britain is predicted to rise to 245,000 people a year over the next few years, eclipsing earlier projections, in a blow to the government’s pledge to keep the number of arrivals down:

[15 March 2023 22:05 · Jane Dalton]

Hunt refuses to promise tax cuts

Jeremy Hunt has refused to promise tax cuts before the next general election.

The chancellor told ITV’s Peston show: “My job is to do the right thing for the economy and then people will see that they can trust the Conservatives to get the economy growing. That’s the electoral dividend - I’m not interested in playing games.

Mr Hunt said he had taken action in the Budget to “systematically” remove the barriers that stop people working, including extending the access to childcare.

“So that is one of the big things that the business organisations like CBI have been asking for.

“That is a transformational change for our economy, because after the Brexit referendum there was a decision by the country that we aren’t going to fill our vacancies from unlimited, low-skilled migration and this is the way that we address it without doing that,” he said.

[15 March 2023 22:25 · Jane Dalton]

Vulnerable people to benefit from £100m charities boost

Charities and community groups struggling to deal with increased demands from society’s most vulnerable people are to get a share of a £100m support package announced in the Budget.

The money is likely to go to organisations in England that provide vital emergency support such as accommodation, food and heating.

Charities Aid Foundation chief executive Neil Heslop welcomed the move because “half of all charities say they are currently worried about their future”, especially as the extra Government support for energy bills tapers off for many this month.

Around a quarter of the cash will be used to fund measures to increase the energy efficiency and sustainability of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.

This could include new boilers, heat pumps and insulation allowing them to deliver more efficient services for vulnerable individuals.

[15 March 2023 22:45 · Jane Dalton]

Analysis: What Hunt meant (but didn’t quite say)

Chief political commentator John Rentoul imagines what was going through the chancellor’s mind as he delivered his statement: