Chancellor triples investment in transport and infrastructure spending, freezes fuel and alcohol duties, and removes VAT on digital publicationsKey points from budget 2020 – at a glanceCoronavirus – latest updatesHealth minister Nadine Dorries diagnosed with coronavirusBank of England announces emergency rate cut 1.59pm GMT Jeremy Corbyn has just been delivering his response now (highlights coming soon), and he faced a challenge because Rishi Sunak has just delivered a set of measures that would have sat very happily in a Labour budget. The opposition has spent the last five years at least denouncing austerity and demanding higher spending on public services and a massive programme of investment. And that is what the Treasury has delivered. You can quibble about the details, we have not had time to read the small print yet, and these announcements will not repair all the damage done to services over the last decade, but on the basis of these headline figures the profile of public spending will look noticeably different over the next few years. This is from the IFS’s Paul Johnson.Perhaps most remarkable announcement is 2.8% p.a. real growth in current public service spending. As Chancellor says this is much faster than economic growth. With investment spending rising even faster, something has to give. 1.48pm GMT Faced with the gloomiest economic clouds since his hedge fund days, Rishi Sunak has taken a sensible choice – spend!People have joked about Dominic Cummings writing the budget – but the chancellor’s boast that infrastructure spending will boost growth in dark times could have been written by John Maynard Keynes.Growth forecasts revised down for three of the next four years – and that’s before adjusting for the impact of coronavirus. #Budget2020 pic.twitter.com/1CzDXb226VThe deficit this fiscal year (2019-20) is now forecast to be 2.1% of GDP, rising to 2.4% in 2020-21 and 2.8% in 2021-22. #Budget2020 pic.twitter.com/CFLL467GbhPublic sector net debt in 2024-25 is forecast by the OBR to be £1661bn (75% GDP). Stronger growth in 2016 & 2017 pushed debt down, and further forecast falls are driven mainly by withdrawal of the Term Funding Scheme. But today’s BoE announcement could push debt up by £100bn. pic.twitter.com/0BQXP2WqNR Continue reading…
Via: Budget 2020: Rishi Sunak extends sick pay and abolishes some business rates in coronavirus response – live news
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