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.
Big concessions from the Chancellor on the controversial universal credit, which has prompted concern from MPs across the Commons.
Hammond says he will remove the one-week waiting period so that entitlement for the benefit will begin immediately. Support will also be given to allow claimants to access full-month's payment within five days of applying. They will also be able to apply for an advance online.
Any new claimant receiving housing benefit will continue to receive their housing benefit for two weeks, he says.
This is a £1.5 billion package to address concerns about the delivery of the credit.
Here are the OBR's borrowing forecasts. Our Economics Editor Ben Chu points out that Hammond's target was for this measure of the deficit to be below 2 per cent in 2020-21, which he is forecast to meet by 0.5% of GDP, which is equivalent to £14.8bn.
Hammond says the National Minimum Wage will rise, from next April, from £7.50 to £7.83.
The Chancellor moves on to talking about duties. Tobacco taxes will continue to rise by inflation plus 2%, in addition to a 1% duty on hand-rolled tobacco this year. He declares war on cheap, poor quality alcohol such as "white ciders", saying new laws will be introduced to raise taxes on these products from 2019.
Taxes on other ciders, wine, spirits and beer, however, will be frozen. Once inflation in factored in, that means a price cut on most alcohol.
The planned fuel duty rise will also be cancelled once again, Hammond announces. Fuel duty has now been frozen for the longest period in 40 years, he says.
We're onto the NHS. Hammond says it is a "source of pride the length and breadth of the country". Acknowledging the health service is under pressure, he pledges £2.8bn additional investment, including £350m immediately to help services cope with the winter. £1.6bn will be next year, and the rest in 2019-20.
Critics will point out that Brexiteers promised the NHS would receive £350m per week after Brexit - not for the entire winter. It's bizarre - some might same politically reckless - that Hammond has chosen the exact same figure for NHS investment...
Here's all you need to know, from Ben Chapman, on Philip Hammond's announcement of a £2.5bn investment fund and a £500 million boost for the tech industry.
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