Budget 2017 live - key points: Tories pivot to public spending in bid to keep out Corbyn
Follow all the latest updates as Chancellor presents his 2017 Budget
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Your support makes all the difference.Welcome to The Independent’s liveblog with coverage of the response to Philip Hammond’s Budget.
The Chancellor was forced to admit that growth and productivity forecasts had been downgraded, with the Official for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicting lower growth than at any time in its history.
It comes after the UK’s finances unexpectedly worsened last month after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing – stripping out state-owned banks – jumped by £500m to £8bn in October.
Despite this, Mr Hammond used the Budget to announce a splurge of new investment, including £3bn set aside for preparing for Brexit, an immediate £350m cash boost for the NHS, a £2.5bn investment fund and £500m support for the tech industry. This can partly be seen as a response to Labour's shock performance at the polls earlier this year, which has forced the Tories to do more to address rising anger at inequality, and try to quell support for Jeremy Corbyn.
Follow the 2017 Budget as it happened below
A series of small giveaways had earlier been trailed by the Treasury, including extending discount railcards to 25-30 year-olds from next Spring and tackling overpayments of student loans.
This was a Budget in which Mr Hammond could not afford any major slip-ups. Tory MPs were nervous of a repeat of the excruciating U-turn on a key announcement in the Budget in Spring, where the Chancellor was forced to pull the plug on his plan to raise taxes for the self-employees through increased national insurance contributions after considerable pressure from Conservative MPs.
If there is any repeat of this, Mr Hammond's position in Number 11 will be very precarious indeed.
A quick recap. Here are the main Autumn Budget 2017 announcements:
- Stamp duty to be removed for first time buyers purchasing properties up to £300,000
- The personal allowance threshold to be raised to £11,850 and the higher rate threshold to £46,350 from next April.
- The National Living Wage will rise from £7.50 an hour to £7.83 an hour, also from next April.
- £3 billion will be set aside for Brexit
- £2.8 billion more investment in the NHS, including £350 million immediately
- New laws to increase the price of cheap, poor-quality alcoholic drinks such as "white ciders".
- A planned fuel duty rise to be scrapped again
- £400 mllion to be invested in new charging points for electric cars
The National Housing Federation, which represents hundreds of housing associations, says there is "much to welcome" in the Budget.
David Orr, the its Chief Executive, praised changes to universal credit and said the package of measures on boosting house-building were "a good signal of intent".
However, the changes will make only "an incremental difference" and "will not deliver a step change in the supply of new homes", Mr Orr said.
Jeremy Corbyn summarised the Budget as highlighting the Tories "record of failure with more to come".
"Debt is being racked up because the Government is weak on those who exploit people", he said.
Read more here, courtesy of Ashley Cowburn, here:
Interesting: the vehicle excise duty that will apply to the most polluting cars from April 2018 will NOT apply to van owners. Why? It's likely to be a political move from a Tory Chancellor fearing tabloid headlines about a tax on "white van man".
Hammond admitted as much during his speech, saying: "No white van man or white van woman will be hit by these measures".
Of course, the Chancellor won't have forgotten the response to his last Budget, when he was forced to make a humiliating U-turn over plans to raise national insurance contributions for self-employed people - a group that includes most van owners...
↵Here's our Chief Political Commentator, John Rentoul, on what Philip Hammond said and what he really meant:
John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, said the Budget showed the Government has "no idea of the reality of people's lives and no plan to improve them".
He said:
This is a ‘nothing has changed’ Budget from an out-of-touch Government with no idea of the reality of people’s lives and no plan to improve them.
“Philip Hammond has completely failed to recognise the scale of the emergency in our public services.
“Today's Budget has found no meaningful funding for our schools still facing their first real terms funding cuts since the mid-90s and nothing even approaching the scale needed to address the crisis in our NHS or local government.
“For all the fanfare on housing, today saw more tinkering in place of decisive action, with only one third of funding announced today genuinely new. The Chancellor announced no measures to directly increase house-building and, without that, lifting stamp duty for some will only drive up prices and benefit sellers, as the OBR have acknowledged.
It seems the Government's promise of a railcard for 26 to 30-year-olds might not be as definite as it seems. The official Budget document says ministers will "work with industry" to introduce the extension of the current 18-25 card, but doesn't actually guarantee it will happen.
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