“Philip Hammond is delivering his third Budget as chancellor from 15:30 GMT. Here are the key points of his speech so far. It is being updated as he addresses MPs.

The state of the economy

• Era of austerity is “finally coming to an end”
• 2018 growth forecast upgraded from 1.3% to 1.6%
• Growth forecast of 1.4%, 1.4%, 1.5% and 1.6% in four subsequent years
• 3.3 million more people in work since 2010
• Wages growth at its highest in nearly a decade

The state of the 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 forecast to fall in subsequent years to £31.8bn, £26.7bn. £23.8bn, £20.8bn and £19.8bn
• Debt as share of GDP to fall from 85.2% in 2016-17 to 83.7% this year and to 74.1% by 2023-24

Brexit

• Extra £500m for preparations for leaving the EU
• Spring Statement next March could be upgraded to full Budget if needed
• A commemorative 50p coin to mark the UK’s departure from the EU (announced on 29 October)

Alcohol, tobacco and fuel

• Beer, cider and spirits duties to be frozen
• Wine duty to rise in line with inflation
• Tobacco duty will continue to rise by inflation plus 2%
• Fuel duty to be frozen for ninth year in a row (announced on 3 October)

Personal taxation and wages

Stamp duty and housing

• All shared equity purchases of up to £500,000 to be exempt from stamp duty
• £500m for the Housing Infrastructure Fund, designed to enable a further 650,000 homes to be built
• Lettings relief limited to properties where the owner is in shared occupancy with the tenant

Welfare and pensions

Defence and security

• An extra £160m for counter-terrorism police
• An extra £1bn for armed forces, for cyber-capabilities and the UK’s new nuclear submarine programme
• £10m for mental health care for veterans, to mark the centenary of World War One Armistice
• £1.7m in education programmes to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, in northern Germany

Business and digital

• New digital services tax on UK revenues of big technology companies, from April 2020
• Profitable companies with global sales of more than £500m will be eligible
• 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 companies with a rateable value of £51,000 or less to be cut by third over two years
• Measure to benefit 90% of independent companies, cutting bill by £8,000
• £900m in business rates relief for small businesses and £650m to rejuvenate High Streets
• New mandatory business rates relief for all lavatories made available for public use, whether publicly or privately owned
• Extending changes to the way self-employment status is taxed, from the public sector to medium and large private companies, from 2020

Education and health (England only)

• 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 centre, providing support in every accident and emergency unit in the country
• An extra £700m for councils, for care for the elderly and those with disabilities
• £10m for air ambulances
• A one-off £400m “bonus” to help schools buy “the little extras they need”

Transport, infrastructure and culture

• A £30bn package for England’s roads, including repairs to motorways and potholes (announced on 27 October)
• A 30% growth in infrastructure spending
• Opening the use of e-passport gates at airports – currently available to people from Europe – to those from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Japan

Environment and energy

• A new tax on non-recycled plastic packaging
• No tax on takeaway coffee cups but this will be reconsidered if the industry doesn’t make enough progress
• £60m for planting trees in England
• £10m to deal with abandoned waste sites”

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Source – BBC News