Greg Hands, MP for Chelsea and Fulham, has welcomed the Budget from Chancellor George Osborne, setting out how the Government will take further action to secure Britain’s recovery and build a resilient economy.
The Budget is part of the Government’s long-term economic plan - a plan that is delivering economic security for families up and down the country, and which will help businesses export more, build more, invest more and manufacture more. This Budget will deliver economic stability and sound public finances. In order to continue to reduce the deficit and debt, and secure the recovery, the Government will cap the welfare budget to control spending, ensure that employers are meeting the full costs of public service pension schemes and limit public sector pay increases.
Greg Hands said: “I am pleased this is a Budget designed to help savers, workers and businesses. The Government is taking decisions that will support businesses to invest, export, and create jobs – laying the foundations for sustainable economic growth. This Budget sets out the most radical reforms to saving for a generation, providing security for families to plan for their future. And it reduces taxes for hardworking people, while taking further steps to tackle tax avoidance.”
It is a Budget for business. Budget 2014 announces the Government will help British businesses by doubling the annual investment allowance to £500,000, until the end of 2015, offering the best export finance in Europe, and reducing energy costs, to ensure that the UK remains a competitive location for manufacturing.
It is a Budget for savers, including radical measures to help savers at all stages of their lives and to give people greater freedom over how they access their pension savings. Budget 2014 introduces the most fundamental change to the way people access their pensions in almost a century, giving increased flexibility and tax relief. It supports households to save through a package of measures including reforming the ISA into a New ISA (NISA) with a significantly higher annual limit of £15,000 and abolishing the 10p rate on savings income.
But most of all, it is a Budget for hardworking people. The Government is taking further action to help families keep more of what they earn and to save for their retirement.
The Government will reduce taxes by increasing the level of the tax-free personal allowance further, from £10,000 to £10,500 in April 2015. This will mean a tax cut for 25.4 million people. By April 2015, a typical basic rate taxpayer will pay £800 less income tax a year than that would have under Labour. This Conservative-led Government will also have lifted 3.2 million out of income tax altogether.
The Chancellor has also cut the duty on beer by 1 penny a pint, frozen duty on cider and spirits and abolished the above inflation duty escalator for wine. This will protect jobs in Britain’s brewing and pub industries, as well as allowing those who drink responsibly not to be unduly penalised.
The Budget will also increase the maximum Tax-Free Childcare support available to £2,000 per year for each child, reduce the cost of long haul flights by abolishing the top two bands of Air Passenger Duty, and provide £200 million fund to repair potholes caused by the winter weather.
The Government will introduce a new and highly secure £1 coin. The proposed new coin is bi-metallic with 12 sides, based on the traditional threepenny bit, and adopts new Royal Mint technology to protect against counterfeiting. The Government plans to introduce the new coin in 2017, and there will be a competition to decide the design on the reverse or tail side of the new coin.