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Emergency Budget 2010 at a glance

Tuesday 22 June 2010 13:29 BST
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The key points from the Chancellor's speech:

* The Budget is tough, but it is also fair, said Mr Osborne. The coalition Government had inherited the largest budget deficit of any European economy except Ireland.

* Unless the Government delivers concrete measures to tackle debt, the consequences would be "higher interest rates, more business failures, sharper rises in unemployment and potentially a catastrophic loss of confidence and the end of the recovery".

* Britain is set to miss the Labour government's "golden rule'' target by £485 billion.

* The Government's "formal mandate" is that the structural current deficit should be in balance in the final year of the five-year forecast period, which is 2015/16.

* A fixed target for debt will also be created, which in this Parliament is to ensure debt falls as a share of GDP by 2015/16. The Office for Budget Responsibility's judgment is that the Government is on track to meet these goals and Mr Osborne said "we are set to meet them one year early in 2014/15''.

* OBR forecasts show growth in the UK economy for the coming five years estimated to be 1.2% this year and 2.3% next year; then 2.8% in 2012, followed by 2.9% in 2013; then 2.7% in 2014 and 2015. Consumer Price Inflation is expected to reach 2.7% by the end of the year, before returning to the 2% target in the medium term.

* The OBR says unemployment will peak this year at 8.1%, then fall each year to reach 6.1% in 2015.

* The coalition Government believes the bulk of debt reduction must come from lower spending, rather than higher taxes - roughly 80% through spending cuts and 20% through higher taxes. Measures today mean that 77% of the total consolidation will be achieved through spending reductions and 23% through tax increases.

* Current expenditure will rise from £637 billion in 2010/11 to £711 billion in 2015/16.

* The Government will look at how to dispose of its shareholding in air traffic body NATS, the student loan book will be sold and the future of the Tote will be resolved.

* With the full agreement of the Queen, the Civil List will remain frozen at £7.9 million for the coming year and a new means of support for Her Majesty will be proposed at a later date.

* Mr Osborne said his Budget today implies further reductions in departmental spending of £17 billion by 2014/15, with unprotected departments facing an average real cut of around 25% over four years.

* The Government is asking public sector workers to accept a two-year pay freeze, with protection for the 1.7 million public servants earning less than £21,000. Those low-paid workers will receive a flat pay-rise worth £250 in both years.

* The OBR today forecasts that by 2015/16, we will be spending over £10 billion a year to meet the gap between pension contributions and payments to the unfunded pensions they support.

* The Government will accelerate the increase in state pension age to 66.

* From next year - with the exception of the state pension and pension credit -benefits, tax credits and public service pensions will rise in line with consumer prices rather than retail prices, saving over £6 billion a year by the end of the Parliament.

* Tax credits will be reduced to families earning over £40,000 next year, the taper rate at which awards are reduced will be increased, the baby element will be removed for new children from April 2011 as will the one-off payment to new workers over 50 from April 2012.

* The Government will abolish the health in pregnancy grant from April 2011, restrict the Sure Start maternity grant to the first child only and expect lone parents to look for work when their youngest child goes to school.

* Child benefit will be frozen for the next three years.

* The Government will introduce a medical assessment for Disability Living Allowance from 2013 for new and existing claimants.

* Housing Benefit will be reformed with a maximum limit of £400 a week, in a package saving £1.8 billion a year by the end of the Parliament

* The total welfare shake-up will save the country £11 billion by 2014/15.

* From April 2011, the threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance will rise by £21 per week above indexation.

* Corporation Tax will be cut next year to 27%, and by 1% annually for the next three years, taking it down to 24%.

* The small companies' tax rate will be cut to 20%.

* Corporation Tax will be cut next year to 27%, and by 1% annually for the next three years, taking it down to 24%.

* From January 2011, the Government will introduce a bank levy, which will apply to the balance sheets of UK banks and building societies and the UK operations of foreign banks. From January 2011, the Government will introduce a bank levy, which will apply to the balance sheets of UK banks and building societies and the UK operations of foreign banks.

* Reform of the corporate tax regime "will help rebalance the economy away from household debt and government consumption'', said the Chancellor.

* Labour's landline tax will be abolished and instead the Government will support private broadband investment with funding in part from the digital switchover under-spend within the TV licence fee.

* The Government will commit to the upgrade of the Tyne and Wear Metro, extension of the Manchester Metrolink, redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station, improvements to the rail lines to Sheffield and between Liverpool and Leeds.

* On January 4 next year, the main rate of VAT will rise from 17.5% to 20%. The VAT rise will generate more than £13 billion a year by the end of this Parliament and zero-rated items will remain exempt from VAT over the course of this Parliament.

* No new increases in duties on alcohol, tobacco or fuel after the "substantial increases'' announced in Labour's March Budget. Labour's plan to increase the duty on cider by 10% above inflation will be scrapped from the end of this month.

* The Government will help low-spending councils in England to freeze council tax for one year from next April.

* Capital Gains Tax remains at 18% for low and middle-income savers but from midnight taxpayers on higher rates will pay 28%. The 10% CGT rate for entrepreneurs which currently applies to the first £2 million qualifying gains will be extended to the first £5 million. The CGT changes should bring in almost £1 billion extra, the great majority from additional income tax, said the Chancellor.

* Personal income tax allowance to be increased by £1,000 in April to £7,475. Some 23 million basic rate taxpayers will gain up to £170 a year. The higher rate income tax threshold will remain frozen to 2013/14, with a long-term objective to increase the personal allowance to £10,000.

* The basic state pension will be linked once more to earnings from April next year, with the pension guaranteed to rise in line with earnings, prices or 2.5%, whichever is the greater.

* The child element of the Child Tax Credit will rise by £150 above indexation next year in a £2 billion-a-year "commitment to low-income families''.

* Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman said: "This is a Tory Budget that will throw people out of work, hold back economic growth and harm vital public services. It's his first Budget but it's the same old Tories.''

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