RT examines the 5 most important announcements in the chancellor’s Autumn Statement.
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In changes to the original proposals, there will also be an upper income limit per parent of £100,000 a year, which will also apply to tax-free childcare. As Mr Osborne sought to head off attacks from Labour in the wake of the Paris attacks he revealed there will be no cut to the police budget.
To cheers from Conservative MPs, he told the Commons: “I’ve had representations that these changes to tax credits should be phased in”.
“Clearly we will now need to take some time to look at the budget in detail and revise our forecasts following the announcement”.
Given recent developments, all eyes were on how George Osborne’s Autumn 2015 Budget would help divert funds towards the defence, and, more specifically, to counter-terrorism measures.
“Over the past five years, policing has already suffered from very damaging cuts and further cuts would have been devastating to local policing”. It is not yet clear where savings have been made elsewhere in the health budget to allow such generosity.
Meanwhile Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, Anthony Stansfeld, said he was “absolutely delighted” that the planned cuts had not gone ahead.
Meanwhile, plans raise stamp duty costs by 3 per cent for buy-to-let landlords and second home buyers were announced.
That rate is worth £2,780 per child.
Where’s the money coming from?
Just the latest in a series of moves aimed at reducing youth unemployment, Osborne announced plans to introduce a new Apprenticeship levy.
Concluding his speech Mr Osborne said: “Five years ago, when I presented my first Spending Review, the country was on the brink of bankruptcy and our economy was in crisis”.
The public spending plans set out in the Spending Review means Britain will reach a surplus of £10.1 billion in 2019/20 – that’s higher than was forecast at the Budget and means Britain will be out of the red and into the black. Everyone interested to hear the expert slay out the realities of the Spending Review can get advance background information as well as the live event via the IFS website here.
Rohn also points out that as it stands, the science budget is smaller than in 2010 thanks to preceding inflation, and even with a £500 million increase it will remain less as a percentage of GDP in 2020.
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“In other good news, the supplement of 3% to Benefit-in-Kind taxes for drivers of diesel company cars was postponed from 2016 to 2021, which will help with future business planning and individuals’ choices”.
