“This is a Budget that will put our country firmly on the path from a high tax, high welfare society to a low tax, low welfare society. It will provide a strong and solid foundation to secure a better future for people across the UK in years to come”
-David Cameron
This latest Budget continues with our Long Term Economic Plan which has already cut the deficit by a half after the last Parliament. Over the last five years income tax cut for 8 out of 10 people, benefits capped to ensure that work pays, two million more people in employment, state pensions increased by £800, a million more pupils in a good/outstanding education and over 80,000 families with a home because of our “Help to Buy” scheme. I believe this budget will continue to make Great Britain Great and delivers security for working people.
- Growing the economy and getting the national finances under control with the national debt falling: We have begun to balance the books and continue reducing the deficit until it is obliterated by the next Parliament.
- Supporting working people with lower taxes: With our long term economic plan meaning you’ll be able to earn 11,000 without paying any income tax at all, because of this taxpayers typical wages will increase to £80. We will raise the 40p rate to £43,000 lifting 130,000 people out of this higher tax rate. This is the first major step in delivering our election commitments.
- Cutting tax on business by reducing Corporation Tax to 18%: This allows Britain to stand at the lowest rate of Corporation Tax in the G20 and it applies to both small and large businesses, we will continue to cut the Corporation Tax further because we cannot afford to stand still. The Conservative Government is making it clear that Britain is open for Business.
- Higher pay with a new “Living Wage”: Our new living wage will start next April at £7.20 per hour for working people over 25.This will then increase to over £9 by 2020. This will be succeeded twice as fast as the Labour Party planned. (e.g. their manifesto pledge was £8 per hour by 2019).With our Plan this will ensure that 2.5 million people will get a direct pay rise and those currently on the minimum wage will see their pay increase by 1/3 over this Parliament. The Conservative Party care about both employers and employees that’s why we’re increasing Employment Allowances by 50% so companies can ensure that they can pay 4 full time employees our new national Living Wage without paying any national insurance at all. All these policies will ensure that work pays.
- Taking the family home out of insurance tax: More and more families are getting smuggled into inheritance taxes. The conservative Party care about families that’s why we’ve ensured with our new policy that families can pass up to £1,000,000 onto your children completely inheritance tax free.
- Strengthening the nation’s defences: We will meet the NATO pledge to spend 2% of our GDP on defence- not just this year, but every year for the rest of the decade.
- Putting welfare spending on sustainable footing: This year the UK has been labelled the fastest growing economy because of the Conservative long term economic plan. Britain is the home to 1% of the UK population and generates 4% of the world’s economy. However the UK yet pays 7% of welfare spending. This is not sustainable and as a Government we have had to make some hard decisions due to the shambolic economic position we were left in by the past Labour Government. We have therefore set out a package to save 12 billion pounds so we can more efficiently protect our public services.
- Tackling Tax Avoidance, evasion and aggressive tax planning: As we have promised in our manifesto we aim to find £5 billion from unfair tax avoidance. We’re also tackling fundamental unfairness by abolishing non-dom tax status.
- Improving the productivity of our economy: Our comprehensive Plan for productivity will follow. The Conservative Party have assessed some of the desperate states of roads around Britain. This has cause us to produce a new Roads Fund which will ensure that every penny raised by the Vehicle Excise Duty in England will go into the Fund to pay for future developments on roads by the end of this decade. Alongside other measures this will cut taxes for businesses including an increased permanent Annual Investment Allowance at £200,000, this will support businesses and create more jobs.
This budget ensures the economic security of a country that lives within its means. It is a big Budget with a big ambition, and like myself I hope you fully support it.