The Budget 2016

:00:32. > :00:34.Welcome to our live coverage of the Budget, the second

:00:35. > :00:39.And it's all happening in a rather different economic climate,

:00:40. > :00:42.not to mention the political climate, with that EU referendum

:00:43. > :00:54.And what will it mean for spending and taxation?

:00:55. > :00:59.A few minutes ago Mr Osborne appeared on the steps of Number 11

:01:00. > :01:01.Downing Street, his official residence, with the traditional red

:01:02. > :01:04.box containing a copy of his Budget speech.

:01:05. > :01:08.His eighth since he became Chancellor in 2010.

:01:09. > :01:11.Alongside him, his Treasury ministerial team.

:01:12. > :01:14.And that Budget speech will be delivered at 12.30 after the usual

:01:15. > :01:25.weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions.

:01:26. > :01:31.making their way now to the Houses of Parliament. Mr Osborne a few

:01:32. > :01:32.moments ago left Downing Street and headed for the Palace of

:01:33. > :01:33.Westminster. Stay with us as we'll have

:01:34. > :01:39.all the Budget detail and reaction. I'll be getting the thoughts

:01:40. > :01:41.of politicians here outside Parliament as they digest

:01:42. > :01:43.the Chancellor's announcements and assess how he deals with

:01:44. > :01:50.the tougher economic environment. I'm in Bolton, the heart of

:01:51. > :01:55.the so-called Northern Powerhouse, which has been promised more money

:01:56. > :02:00.to improve its transport network. We'll be getting a range of views

:02:01. > :02:02.from people affected And I'll be responding

:02:03. > :02:07.to your emails, texts and tweets about what this Budget means

:02:08. > :02:18.for you and your family's finances. We'll be making sense of the Budget

:02:19. > :02:22.measures with expert analysis from my BBC colleagues

:02:23. > :02:25.here in the studio. Our political editor

:02:26. > :02:28.Laura Kuenssberg, our economics editor Kamal Ahmed,

:02:29. > :02:33.and our business editor Simon Jack. They'll also be providing plenty

:02:34. > :02:35.of thoughts on social media If you want to join the Twitter

:02:36. > :02:53.conversation, use the hashtag You'll be part of the big tide of

:02:54. > :02:54.comment hanging around speech itself.

:02:55. > :02:56.You can also email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk.

:02:57. > :02:59.We'll try and put some of your tweets and emails

:03:00. > :03:06.to our experts and guests during the programme.

:03:07. > :03:11.Keep those comments coming in and keep the questions coming in and I

:03:12. > :03:13.will do my best to use them as the programme goes on.

:03:14. > :03:15.So, this time last year, the coalition government

:03:16. > :03:17.was still in power, the election was yet to come,

:03:18. > :03:20.and it has been a rather eventful 12 months for Mr Osborne.

:03:21. > :03:26.REPORTER: Is this an election-winning Budget,

:03:27. > :03:31.With Britain's national debt share falling, the sun

:03:32. > :04:22.People keep drinking beer because of the duty cut.

:04:23. > :04:27.The simplest thing to do is not to phase these changes in,

:04:28. > :04:33.I brought along Mao's Little Red Book.

:04:34. > :04:45.Oh, look, it's his personal signed copy!

:04:46. > :04:54.This is putting the power into the Northern Powerhouse.

:04:55. > :05:03.Eventful. He's a very visible Chancellor in so many ways. What are

:05:04. > :05:08.you expecting today? The big question for him is where has the

:05:09. > :05:13.sunshine gone, Chancellor? In the election campaign we got used to

:05:14. > :05:16.George Osborne making the case he had done rather a good job of fixing

:05:17. > :05:21.the roof while the sun was shining to use the metaphor he used again

:05:22. > :05:24.and again and again. Today, the tone is going to be completely different.

:05:25. > :05:28.He's going to warn of gathering clouds over the world economy, and

:05:29. > :05:33.the political question is, does he try to make the case, as his critics

:05:34. > :05:40.will suggest, that somehow it's his fault and he has caused some of

:05:41. > :05:44.these problems in this country? Or really point to what's happening

:05:45. > :05:49.right around the world, how does he respond politically to the fact of

:05:50. > :05:51.the numbers he bases his sums on in November and now look hopelessly

:05:52. > :05:56.optimistic and rhetorically also how does he do that when he's been

:05:57. > :06:00.telling the public something else for awhile? Lots of important things

:06:01. > :06:04.going on, like the reaction, because, of course, today it's a

:06:05. > :06:07.very big job to someone else on the opposition front bench. Let's look

:06:08. > :06:13.at Jeremy Corbyn, who was leaving home a short while ago today. As is

:06:14. > :06:17.usual on these days, he didn't say too much to the people waiting, but

:06:18. > :06:21.he faces a big challenge today because he has got to lead the

:06:22. > :06:25.response to this Budget speech. Some thoughts on that? This is one of the

:06:26. > :06:29.hardest and worst gigs in Westminster, being Leader of the

:06:30. > :06:33.Opposition is always difficult. Especially on Budget day. It is not

:06:34. > :06:37.an impossible but almost an impossible task. Imagine doing an

:06:38. > :06:41.exam live on television in front of the whole country that's not on your

:06:42. > :06:44.specialist subject, you haven't had any time to prepare for and you have

:06:45. > :06:49.got to somehow come back with something credible and hopefully for

:06:50. > :06:52.Jeremy Corbyn, can get through to the public. It's going to be a

:06:53. > :06:57.difficult task for him to respond in an effective detail but what we will

:06:58. > :07:01.hear from Jeremy Corbyn I'm sure, as we heard in recent days and months

:07:02. > :07:05.from his team, is, in their view, George Osborne's record is failure.

:07:06. > :07:09.He has missed his own targets on sorting out the books again and

:07:10. > :07:14.again and again. Of course, as Jeremy Corbyn will make reference to

:07:15. > :07:18.this, George Osborne will announce more cuts on top of six years of

:07:19. > :07:23.cuts, and that's the big difficulty for him in terms of the public. His

:07:24. > :07:28.reputation was built on sorting out the box, persuading people he was

:07:29. > :07:32.the safe choice to clear away the debts that is not got anything like

:07:33. > :07:37.as far as he wanted to our road and he's going to tell people today he

:07:38. > :07:42.has to act now so we don't pay later. That means more cuts, on top

:07:43. > :07:44.of years of cuts and for many people watching this around the country,

:07:45. > :07:49.it's going to be difficult to swallow. Quite a few things for us

:07:50. > :07:52.to pick up and I'll come back in a while to talk about the

:07:53. > :07:56.all-important context of the European referendum which could have

:07:57. > :07:57.a bearing on the things we're talking about today.

:07:58. > :08:10.What are you focusing on today? It's going to be a fascinating day. There

:08:11. > :08:15.are two big issues for us to watch as George Osborne gets up to deliver

:08:16. > :08:19.his Budget in an hour's time. One of those is around the government's

:08:20. > :08:23.finances. The Government accounts, how much will they spend and how

:08:24. > :08:28.much is it borrowing? Secondly, the health of the UK economy, because

:08:29. > :08:32.there have been some headwinds over the last three months since the

:08:33. > :08:36.Autumn Statement of last November. So let's remember some of those

:08:37. > :08:42.rules that George Osborne set himself last year. He said he would

:08:43. > :08:47.reduce Government borrowing and would be running a surplus by the

:08:48. > :08:53.end of this Parliament. Let's look at some of those figures. In the

:08:54. > :08:59.Autumn Statement in November he said borrowing would be at ?73.5 billion

:09:00. > :09:11.this financial year. It would fall them, he suggested, down to 49.9

:09:12. > :09:19.billion in 2016-17 and reach an overall surplus of over ?10 billion

:09:20. > :09:22.in 2019-20. The other key target he set himself was that public sector

:09:23. > :09:29.net debt, the amount of debt the Government is running would fall as

:09:30. > :09:34.a percentage of national income, that is rule two. Another thing to

:09:35. > :09:38.look for today is does he had that second rule? November 's forecast,

:09:39. > :09:44.but more optimistic, said the figure of national debt in comparison to

:09:45. > :09:50.income would be 83.1% last year, that would fall to 82.5%. This year.

:09:51. > :09:58.And fall again each subsequent year until its larger healthy looking

:09:59. > :10:03.number of 74.3% in 2019-20. A lot of economists judging today will say

:10:04. > :10:07.you can find it difficult with his new economic headwinds to hit that

:10:08. > :10:11.target. We need to keep a close eye on whether that downward trend is

:10:12. > :10:15.still there. That's very important politically for him. You mentioned

:10:16. > :10:20.the state of the economy. What is the main yardstick there? If you go

:10:21. > :10:25.back to the spending review of last autumn, things looked better. The

:10:26. > :10:28.Office for Budget Responsibility, economic watchdog for the

:10:29. > :10:35.Government, said the public finances were in a better state to the tune

:10:36. > :10:39.of ?27 billion. That was down to two things, higher tax receipts as the

:10:40. > :10:44.economy grew more robust, and also a bit of it gain out of our national

:10:45. > :10:48.debt repayments because interest rates are very low, the debt

:10:49. > :10:55.repayments were low as well so the Government got a lift from those. If

:10:56. > :10:59.we go back to the beginning of this year, global economic uncertainty

:11:00. > :11:05.has grown and there has been slower than predicted growth. Let's look at

:11:06. > :11:09.a few of those numbers. The Office for Budget Responsibility in

:11:10. > :11:14.November said in 2015, growth would be 2.4% and it would be the same for

:11:15. > :11:18.this year and would probably stay around the same area for the next

:11:19. > :11:24.three years. But since then, those economic headwinds have been on a

:11:25. > :11:28.downgrade. The Office for National Statistics put growth last year at

:11:29. > :11:36.just 2.2% and the Bank of England has now cut its growth forecast for

:11:37. > :11:40.this year, 2016, down to 2.2%. One other thing to remember, wages are

:11:41. > :11:44.not increasing as rapidly as we thought they would last year and

:11:45. > :11:47.that means tax receipts, income for the Government, is reduced, semi is

:11:48. > :11:52.going to have to cut public expenditure more like Laura said. If

:11:53. > :11:56.you want to hit his rules, you may not add them now but he will not, I

:11:57. > :11:59.don't believe, do that. Thanks very much, we will talk later.

:12:00. > :12:01.Plenty of speculation about the content of today's Budget,

:12:02. > :12:04.but it's important to remember that the Chancellor has already

:12:05. > :12:06.announced a list of things that will take effect at start

:12:07. > :12:11.of the new financial year next month.

:12:12. > :12:13.So let's start with the so-called giveaways.

:12:14. > :12:17.On income tax, the tax-free personal allowance is set to rise to ?11,000

:12:18. > :12:19.next month and the threshold for paying the higher income tax

:12:20. > :12:27.Next month, the government's new living wage comes into force

:12:28. > :12:31.and this will see the minimum wage rise from ?6.70 an hour to ?7.20

:12:32. > :12:37.A new personal savings allowance of ?1,000 for basic rate taxpayers

:12:38. > :12:45.and ?500 for higher rate taxpayers will also be introduced in April.

:12:46. > :12:48.So much for giving away, the Chancellor is also taking money

:12:49. > :12:52.The new apprenticeship levy will start to be collected in April

:12:53. > :12:55.2017 and is expected to raise up to ?3 billion a year.

:12:56. > :12:59.Stamp duty will be raised by 3% for buy-to-lets and second homes.

:13:00. > :13:02.And while there's been much speculation about possible changes

:13:03. > :13:05.to pension tax relief in today's Budget, the Chancellor has already

:13:06. > :13:07.announced a reduction in the lifetime allowance

:13:08. > :13:16.The Chancellor is squeezing public spending.

:13:17. > :13:19.Savings will be made in the welfare budget by freezing working age

:13:20. > :13:24.While increases in public sector pay will be capped at 1% for the rest

:13:25. > :13:35.So plenty of changes already in the pipeline and of course the world of

:13:36. > :13:39.business already heavily affected by some of those and the measures

:13:40. > :13:44.announced over the past year or so. Let's talk to Simon, our business

:13:45. > :13:47.editor. Business, what should we look out for? He's got a tricky

:13:48. > :13:50.conundrum because it got to persuade business he is still on their side

:13:51. > :13:54.whilst hitting them inevitably for some more cash and businesses are

:13:55. > :13:58.feeling pretty bruised for his last few encounters with George Osborne.

:13:59. > :14:02.We have the apprenticeship levy, the increase in the living wage come

:14:03. > :14:05.raid on Insurance Premium Tax they are saying, enough already, give us

:14:06. > :14:09.a break, please, we can't take much more so that's going to be their

:14:10. > :14:13.message. I'm afraid he's not going to be able to oblige. What are you

:14:14. > :14:18.expecting to do in that sense? Where can you go where business is

:14:19. > :14:21.concerned? He will try to go again for business premiums, it could go

:14:22. > :14:25.up to 12% and he would try to make sure more tax does not leak out of

:14:26. > :14:28.the current system so for example, at the moment, you can deduct the

:14:29. > :14:32.amount you pay in debt interest from the profits to reduce your tax

:14:33. > :14:36.profits and we could see a change there. On the plus side, though, the

:14:37. > :14:39.Northsea is in big trouble and this would be a no-brainer giveaway for

:14:40. > :14:44.him because there were no profit in the North Sea at the moment so

:14:45. > :14:48.reducing the tax by 20%, of nothing, is nothing, so it would be

:14:49. > :14:55.everything for him to do. OK, thank you very much. We will be back for

:14:56. > :14:57.some more analysis just before the Prime Minister's Questions at

:14:58. > :15:01.midday. Lots of reaction of course to the Budget speech at Westminster

:15:02. > :15:05.as we expect, but very important for us to take the temperature in other

:15:06. > :15:07.parts of the UK. My colleague Jo is in Bolton today, the marketplace.

:15:08. > :15:17.Let's join him now. Statemen Yes, Huw, I'm the market

:15:18. > :15:23.place here in Bolton which is George Osborne likes to term it the

:15:24. > :15:27.Northern powerhouse. It is under going a ?20 million refurbishment

:15:28. > :15:30.and make-over. As you can see everybody is busy working. They

:15:31. > :15:34.might have stopped while we are doing our broadcast here. Let's talk

:15:35. > :15:41.to the man who has been overseeing the construction in this big market

:15:42. > :15:43.place, Ian Spencer. The Chancellor is expected to announce new

:15:44. > :15:48.infrastructure projects for this region. How much of a boost will

:15:49. > :15:53.that give Bolton? It would be a fantastic boost to the region. If

:15:54. > :15:56.you look at Bolton, has always been overshadowed by the likes of

:15:57. > :16:01.Manchester and Liverpool, however, with the new transport links that

:16:02. > :16:05.are coming through, from reducing travel times from over 35 minutes

:16:06. > :16:09.out of Manchester, that's going to be reduced down to 20 minutes and

:16:10. > :16:14.then from there to the airport, within 40 minutes. So it would be

:16:15. > :16:20.fantastic for the region. Wla would it do for the building trade? From

:16:21. > :16:22.our prospective it will bring more opportunities to the business,

:16:23. > :16:26.growing it forward. So yes, you know, it is all very, very positive.

:16:27. > :16:31.Ian, thank you very much. I will let you get back to work. Let's take you

:16:32. > :16:34.into the Bolton sunshine, so out of the gloom of the vaults. They will

:16:35. > :16:41.be opened actually in the next few months. There will be restaurants

:16:42. > :16:46.and bars, tucked in under here in vaults closed since 1855 when this

:16:47. > :16:52.was actually the biggest market place in Europe. Well, let's talk to

:16:53. > :16:56.two ladies, Nicky Wilson-Cook who is in charge and Catherine who is a

:16:57. > :17:00.local businesswoman. Nicky, what impact is this going to have on

:17:01. > :17:05.Bolton? Well, the development has already started to have a positive

:17:06. > :17:08.impact. We're hoping it is a game changer introducing lesh uand

:17:09. > :17:13.restaurants is a key must have. We're really hopeful it will be

:17:14. > :17:17.great. Is the northern pou per house that George Osborne talks about

:17:18. > :17:23.tally a reality or rhetoric? No, it is a reality. We have already got

:17:24. > :17:29.the transport interchange happening. That's a ?48 million spend, that's

:17:30. > :17:31.been, that's funded by Greater Manchester Transport Programme,

:17:32. > :17:36.yeah, it is good. Well, let's talk to Catherine. There are measures the

:17:37. > :17:39.Chancellor brought in that have had an impact on small businesses like

:17:40. > :17:45.yours and you run an accountancy furpl. What impact have they had? --

:17:46. > :17:52.firm, what impact have they had? Changes in dividends. We know that

:17:53. > :17:58.small business owners face paying taxes on dividends which has quite a

:17:59. > :18:02.big impact for the tax planning as well as as in the future. What about

:18:03. > :18:06.the minimum wage? At the same time the Government announced today the

:18:07. > :18:11.national Living Wage. Well, obviously we all want to earn more

:18:12. > :18:21.money, so it is not bad to increase the Living Wage, but at the same

:18:22. > :18:28.time being forced to pay more wages and pay more in taxes regarding the

:18:29. > :18:31.dividends, it doesn't really have a good impact on small businesses

:18:32. > :18:34.because we are a bit afraid. All right, thank you both very much. We

:18:35. > :18:39.will be getting reaction all day, here at the market place in Bolton

:18:40. > :18:43.and we will also be getting reaction with ruth Alexander who is our

:18:44. > :18:48.personal finance expert. Let's speak to her. She is up there. Amid the

:18:49. > :18:52.speculation about what might be in the Budget, we do know what the

:18:53. > :18:57.Chancellor already has planned to come into play in April. Pensions is

:18:58. > :19:04.going to be a big area of change and that's something we will get a lot

:19:05. > :19:06.of questions about on Money Box, people who are reaching State

:19:07. > :19:10.Pension Age from 6th April, the system will change for them. They

:19:11. > :19:14.won't get the basic state pension and the additional state pension,

:19:15. > :19:19.there will be one new state pension which is about ?155 a month. The

:19:20. > :19:23.highest earners are being squeezed on pensions. The maximum amount you

:19:24. > :19:28.can save tax-free in a pension over a lifetime is going down to ?1

:19:29. > :19:35.million and the annual amount you can save overer year if you are

:19:36. > :19:38.earning 1 -- over a year if you are earning ?150,000 a year will be

:19:39. > :19:44.tapered down. There is good news for savers. Basic rate taxpayers will be

:19:45. > :19:51.able to earn ?1,000 interest tax-free on their savings and higher

:19:52. > :19:56.tax payers will be able to earn ?500 tax-free and that's on top of the

:19:57. > :19:59.Isa limit of ?420. We would love to keep in touch with you throughout

:20:00. > :20:09.the Budget and hear how it is affecting you. You can e-mail us and

:20:10. > :20:16.you can also text us or you can contact us via Twitter:

:20:17. > :20:20.We will be here all day in the market place. Not only will we be

:20:21. > :20:25.gauging reaction from local businesses and the TUC and local

:20:26. > :20:28.political leaders, we will, of course, bring you analysis of the

:20:29. > :20:31.key measures announced in the Chancellor's Budget coming up

:20:32. > :20:38.shortly. That's it. Huw. Jo, thank you very much.

:20:39. > :20:41.You're welcome to send in questions and comments as you go along because

:20:42. > :20:45.we will try to deal with as many as we can.

:20:46. > :20:49.Let's look outside our studio at Westminster. A glorious view from

:20:50. > :20:56.our helicopter of the Palace of Westminster. There is quite a bit of

:20:57. > :21:01.work going on, but there is a big bill attached to the projected work

:21:02. > :21:05.if the bills are approved because there is a lot of repair work needed

:21:06. > :21:10.on this glorious building. You have the Victoria Tower on the right

:21:11. > :21:13.which is home to the Parliamentary archives with Bills going back

:21:14. > :21:16.hundreds of years and Big Ben, of course, across the river there from

:21:17. > :21:20.the London Eye. On the green in front of Parliament is Jane Hill

:21:21. > :21:24.with guests. Let's join Jane now. Thank you very much, Huw. Welcome to

:21:25. > :21:27.a blustery College Green. Let's take a few minutes to assess what

:21:28. > :21:31.representatives of the two main parties here at Westminster think we

:21:32. > :21:37.might be in for over the next couple of hours. Joining me here outside

:21:38. > :21:45.Parliament the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the MP

:21:46. > :21:52.for Heartsmere. Welcome to both of you. Oliver, like it or not, this

:21:53. > :21:56.day, this Budget, is all through the prism of what is happening on 23rd

:21:57. > :22:00.June, isn't it? Well, 23rd June is a way off. We have got four months to

:22:01. > :22:04.go. What this is through the prism of is sticking with the long-term

:22:05. > :22:08.plan, that's delivering stability for the economy, we have got two

:22:09. > :22:10.million more jobs and one million more people moved off benefits and

:22:11. > :22:13.it is about investing for the future. I know that's what the

:22:14. > :22:17.Chancellor's priority is today. Where is the money, for example, you

:22:18. > :22:20.talk about investing for the future, turning schools in England into

:22:21. > :22:24.academies, where is that money suddenly coming from? Well, actually

:22:25. > :22:27.I think this is what the Chancellor has done right from the very

:22:28. > :22:32.beginning. He has taken two big decision, he continued to reduce the

:22:33. > :22:35.deficit. You spend less on debt interest. So that gives you more

:22:36. > :22:39.money to play with and secondly, if you continue to reform welfare which

:22:40. > :22:42.we're doing, saving ?12 billion, rather than spending money on what

:22:43. > :22:45.Labour used to call the bills of social failure, we can actually

:22:46. > :22:50.invest it for the long-term, that's why we are investing in education

:22:51. > :22:52.and I'm pleased by the suggestion we will have Crossrail two and

:22:53. > :22:56.investment in high-speed three, that is the sort of thing we need to be

:22:57. > :23:00.doing, moving away from that spending that is wasting money on

:23:01. > :23:05.things like debt interest to long-term investment in areas to

:23:06. > :23:09.improve our infrastructure. Jeremy Corbyn is standing up for the

:23:10. > :23:13.first time today. He has got a very daunting task, hasn't he? Well, I

:23:14. > :23:19.think it will be a real test For George Osborne today about facing up

:23:20. > :23:23.to his own failures. Oliver talks about the costs of failure, the

:23:24. > :23:26.housing benefit bill is said to be ?350 million more than George

:23:27. > :23:31.Osborne himself forecast last year. As a direct result of a lack of

:23:32. > :23:35.house building, the worst record since 1920 and rent prices rising.

:23:36. > :23:39.Today, is actually a real test about whether he is going to face up to

:23:40. > :23:43.his own failures on the debt on deficit, on exports, which are

:23:44. > :23:47.likely to see if he is going to meet his targets, it will take 14 years

:23:48. > :23:50.longer. On all of those issues, people are saying are you going to

:23:51. > :23:55.face up to the failures and are you going to put the interests of the

:23:56. > :23:59.British economy first or your own political ambitions? That's where

:24:00. > :24:03.today we want to see a fair Budget, we want to see the poorest not

:24:04. > :24:06.bearing the highest cost and the highest burden and we want to see

:24:07. > :24:12.one that genuinely invests for the future. Do you stand here confident

:24:13. > :24:17.this lunch time that your leader will stand up, will make those

:24:18. > :24:20.points, that he will be able to rebut whatever George Osborne

:24:21. > :24:26.announces because this is a test for anyone, isn't it? Jeremy Corbyn is,

:24:27. > :24:29.this is his first chance to do this? This is a test and I have every

:24:30. > :24:33.confidence that we are going to be standing up to George Osborne today,

:24:34. > :24:37.not just in the chamber, but we're going to be standing up to him in

:24:38. > :24:41.the media as well because he has failed on so many levels. He has

:24:42. > :24:48.shown that you cannot cut your way to prosperity. If people's wages are

:24:49. > :24:52.?14, if they are worst, ?40 worse off than before the crash in 2008,

:24:53. > :24:58.those are real questions for George Osborne to answer about why women

:24:59. > :25:04.are worse off by.81% of cost of his cuts and why he is cutting support

:25:05. > :25:11.for people with disabilities, 600,000 people are set to be

:25:12. > :25:16.affected. Today is a test for George Osborne facing up to his failures.

:25:17. > :25:21.Oliver, you mentioned investing in infrastructure and this is also a

:25:22. > :25:25.Budget produced by a man who is thinking about trying to get into

:25:26. > :25:29.Number Ten? Well, I had the privilege of working for the Prime

:25:30. > :25:32.Minister for five years and I very much hope and expect that he will

:25:33. > :25:35.continue as Prime Minister as he said until the end of the

:25:36. > :25:38.Parliament. I think that's quite a way off and actually it is

:25:39. > :25:43.interesting talking about failure, I remember when we came into power, we

:25:44. > :25:47.had the biggest Budget deficit, one of the biggest budget deficits in

:25:48. > :25:50.the western world, borrowing more than we had at any point in our

:25:51. > :25:54.peace time history, we have reduced the deficit by a half, hopefully it

:25:55. > :25:57.will be moving down by two-thirds, we have more jobs being created and

:25:58. > :26:02.that's the record that the Chancellor will be focussing on. You

:26:03. > :26:07.know that debt is a percentage of GDP has risen from 62% to 80% under

:26:08. > :26:11.George Osborne. You know he failed to cut the deficit as he said he

:26:12. > :26:16.would. You know he failed on manufacturing. We are now still

:26:17. > :26:20.pre-crisis, not even at pre-crisis levels with manufacturing. You know

:26:21. > :26:23.he failed on all those fronts. 9% of your infrastructure projects have

:26:24. > :26:36.been delivered. There is a long way to go. Even the CBI... By having the

:26:37. > :26:41.second strongest economy in the entire G7, that's a record which we

:26:42. > :26:45.can be proud of. The debate is clearly going to continue. We can

:26:46. > :26:48.continue this after the interview. Thank you very much for joining us.

:26:49. > :27:01.We will have much more from here over the course of the afternoon as

:27:02. > :27:11.you would expect. Huw, back to you. You think it is a boring Budget,

:27:12. > :27:15.this proves that we are in for an interesting time!

:27:16. > :27:18.And you can also access the BBC's range of expert analysis

:27:19. > :27:20.and all the latest Budget news on the BBC website:

:27:21. > :27:30.Let's look at what is going on. I think they are tidying up their

:27:31. > :27:33.session of questions on international development, but it is

:27:34. > :27:38.a full House already because, of course, everyone has been there inn

:27:39. > :27:44.there to book their seats for the Budget Statement. Justine Greening

:27:45. > :27:47.finishing this session. Laura is still with me. I mentioned the

:27:48. > :27:50.important context of the referendum coming up in June because clearly,

:27:51. > :27:53.for lots of people, watching this today, that is really the context

:27:54. > :27:57.around this speech. For the Government that's the context around

:27:58. > :28:02.this speech too. There is no doubt about that and George Osborne as a

:28:03. > :28:05.politician likes to trade in big political facts, big political

:28:06. > :28:08.headlines and the big political fact right now is that the Government's

:28:09. > :28:12.number one priority is making sure that they win the EU referendum or

:28:13. > :28:15.interestingly the way a lot of them see it is not losing the referendum

:28:16. > :28:21.which in a funny way is a different thing. That doesn't mean that the

:28:22. > :28:25.Budget is going to be empty of anything that's ambitious or empty

:28:26. > :28:28.of anything that makes a difference to people watching this, but what it

:28:29. > :28:32.does mean is that we are unlikely to get many measures that are going to

:28:33. > :28:37.give George Osborne real headaches inside his own political party. We

:28:38. > :28:41.are still in the early days of referendum campaign, but it is

:28:42. > :28:44.already extremely fractious inside the Conservative Party. The other

:28:45. > :28:48.big political fact of this Parliament is they've got a very,

:28:49. > :28:51.very small majority and they can be beaten. They have been beaten, they

:28:52. > :28:56.were beaten the other day on George Osborne's plans to have shops in

:28:57. > :29:00.England open for longer on Sundays. So don't expect an empty Budget,

:29:01. > :29:04.don't expect nothing controversial, but we shouldn't expect anything

:29:05. > :29:07.that's really going to upset the apple cart on the Conservative

:29:08. > :29:09.benches because they are more focussed on trying to keep together

:29:10. > :29:13.on the European Union. So on this Budget Day 2016 at

:29:14. > :29:16.Westminster, let's take a look at the scene here on the banks of the

:29:17. > :29:20.river Thames and the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben about to

:29:21. > :29:26.announce that it is drawing up to midday.

:29:27. > :29:31.Very soon, we will have Prime Minister's Questions starting. It

:29:32. > :29:36.has been a few minutes late starting of late. But maybe the Speaker today

:29:37. > :29:44.will be more strict. Let's go inside the chamber. Questions are still

:29:45. > :29:47.going on and we concede the international development are still

:29:48. > :29:50.finishing. Why don't we see whether the Speaker will call the Prime

:29:51. > :29:54.Minister. Questions to the Prime Minister.

:29:55. > :30:00.CHEERING Number one, Mr Speaker. Thank you,

:30:01. > :30:03.Mr Speaker. This morning I spoke to ministerial colleagues and others

:30:04. > :30:11.and in addition to my duties in the South ice love further meetings

:30:12. > :30:16.later today. And employment falling by over 60% at over 5000 new

:30:17. > :30:21.apprenticeships, Redditch is doing well. I'm holding my third jobs fair

:30:22. > :30:25.in the next few weeks with 25 companies taking part. Would he

:30:26. > :30:30.agree we've made a good start but we must not be complacent and continue

:30:31. > :30:36.to get good quality jobs into our regions? I'm very much agreeable

:30:37. > :30:39.with my honourable friend. If we look at the West Midlands and take

:30:40. > :30:46.today's unemployment figures, we can see the claimant count has come down

:30:47. > :30:49.since 2010 by 91,000 people and I'm sure the House would welcome an

:30:50. > :30:56.update on the unemployment figures out today, employment at a new

:30:57. > :31:03.record high of 31.4 million people. Compared with 2010, there are

:31:04. > :31:08.2,370,000 more people in work than when I became Prime Minister and the

:31:09. > :31:11.claimant count today, down 18,000 in the last month, figures I'm sure

:31:12. > :31:21.will be welcomed right across the House. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Cut

:31:22. > :31:29.the Prime Minister tell the House how many people will die from

:31:30. > :31:34.respiratory disease as a result of a pollution be for this country meet

:31:35. > :31:40.its legal obligations on air quality by 2025? I don't have those figures

:31:41. > :31:44.to hand but what I do know is that we need to make progress on air

:31:45. > :31:49.quality and that is why we have the new regulations on diesel engines

:31:50. > :31:54.which is helping, the steady decarbonisation of our power sector,

:31:55. > :31:57.which will help, and that's why we do have very strong legislation

:31:58. > :32:02.already in terms of making sure we have clean air particularly in our

:32:03. > :32:08.cities. If I could help the Prime Minister. The sad truth is, half a

:32:09. > :32:12.million people will die because of this country's failure to comply

:32:13. > :32:15.with international law on air pollution. Perhaps a good answer

:32:16. > :32:22.another question, how much does their pollution cost our economy

:32:23. > :32:25.every year? Of course it costs billions because people are being

:32:26. > :32:30.injured and that is why we have the new clean air zones, we are seeing

:32:31. > :32:35.omissions from cars coming down, and if I give him one example, if we

:32:36. > :32:38.deliver in terms of our carbon reduction plan for electricity

:32:39. > :32:45.generation, we are going to say something like an 85% reduction in

:32:46. > :32:51.carbon between 1990 and 2030, giving us one of the best green record

:32:52. > :32:59.anywhere in the world. The Royal College of physicians estimates that

:33:00. > :33:02.their pollution costs the economy ?20 billion per year. The failure to

:33:03. > :33:08.do their pollution is killing people. Only a few days ago, London

:33:09. > :33:12.faced a severe smog warning. His friend, the Mayor of London has

:33:13. > :33:18.decided over illegal breach of air quality in the capital every day

:33:19. > :33:23.since 2012, so why can't the Prime Minister Harri up action to make is

:33:24. > :33:28.complied with international law and help the health of the people of

:33:29. > :33:31.this country -- hurry up. The Conservative governments in the

:33:32. > :33:34.1950s passed the clean air act and I'm sure it'll be this Conservative

:33:35. > :33:40.Government which take action, including the clear air zones rehab,

:33:41. > :33:44.lower car emissions, and why are we able to do this? Not only because we

:33:45. > :33:46.care about the environment but we have a strong economy to pay for

:33:47. > :33:53.these improvements as we just about to hear. We all welcome the clean

:33:54. > :34:04.air act of 1956. But things have moved on since then.

:34:05. > :34:08.LAUGHTER The Government is now being

:34:09. > :34:12.threatened with being taken to court for its failure to comply with

:34:13. > :34:17.international law on air pollution. He is proposing to spend tens, if

:34:18. > :34:21.not hundreds of thousands of pounds, public money, defending the

:34:22. > :34:25.indefensible. Why not instead invest that money in cleaner air and better

:34:26. > :34:31.air quality for everyone in this country? We are investing money in

:34:32. > :34:35.cleaner in our country. For instance, we are phasing out the use

:34:36. > :34:39.of coal-fired power stations, far in advance of what other European

:34:40. > :34:43.countries are doing, blazing a trail in terms of more renewable energy,

:34:44. > :34:46.the clean nuclear energy we are going to be investing in, all of

:34:47. > :34:49.these things will make a difference but let me say again, you can only

:34:50. > :34:56.do this if you have a strong economy, able to pay for these

:34:57. > :35:00.things. If the Government and the Prime Minister are so keen on

:35:01. > :35:05.renewable and clean energy, could you explain why, on Monday, the

:35:06. > :35:11.House approved new regulations to allow communities a veto on clean

:35:12. > :35:14.energy projects like Shaw went, and I have a question from Angela from

:35:15. > :35:21.Lancaster who asks the Prime Minister this. If I was you, I would

:35:22. > :35:28.listen. Will the Prime Minister offer the same rights of veto to her

:35:29. > :35:34.community and community like air of a veto on fracking? We have a proper

:35:35. > :35:42.planning system for deciding these things. If he wants to know what is

:35:43. > :35:46.happening in terms of renewable energy, 99% of the solar panels in

:35:47. > :35:52.this country were installed since I became Prime Minister. That is the

:35:53. > :35:55.record we have. The UK now has the second-largest ultralow emission

:35:56. > :35:59.vehicle market anywhere in the European Union. We've seen one of

:36:00. > :36:05.the strongest growth in renewable energies, but isn't it remarkable,

:36:06. > :36:09.five questions in, and know well, to the fall in unemployment, no mention

:36:10. > :36:14.on the 31 million people now in work, no mention of the fact we have

:36:15. > :36:19.more women, young people, in work, more people bringing home a salary,

:36:20. > :36:22.a wage, and paying less taxes. Not a word from the party I thought was

:36:23. > :36:27.meant to be the party of labour. The party of working people, getting

:36:28. > :36:42.people into work is on this side of the House. Mr Speaker, the questions

:36:43. > :36:48.to the Prime Minister RVs. -- are these. He boasted he led the

:36:49. > :36:55.greatest Government ever. No Husky was safe from his cuddles. So could

:36:56. > :36:57.he explain why the energy and climate change select committee has

:36:58. > :37:04.produced a damning report when it comes to green energy, saying major

:37:05. > :37:09.investors policies as risky as a result of cuts and changes. Why is

:37:10. > :37:13.this Government so failing the renewable energy sector, clean air,

:37:14. > :37:21.investors, consumers and those who work in that industry? I think, if

:37:22. > :37:23.any proper look at the figures will find, this Government has a

:37:24. > :37:31.remarkable record in green energy. Let me take the climate action

:37:32. > :37:36.network, they said Britain is the second best country in the world for

:37:37. > :37:42.tackling climate change after Denmark. That is our record. Since

:37:43. > :37:46.2010, we produced greenhouse gases by 14%, over delivering against

:37:47. > :37:50.carbon budgets, securing the first truly global legally binding

:37:51. > :37:54.agreement to tackle climate change and have annual support for

:37:55. > :37:58.renewables, more than doubling to over ?10 billion by 2020, on

:37:59. > :38:02.renewable and it has become on track to deliver our target of at least

:38:03. > :38:06.30% of renewable sources by 2020 and almost all of that would not have

:38:07. > :38:17.happened under a Labour Government. That's our record and we are proud

:38:18. > :38:20.of it. Question two, Mr Speaker. There are some positive things going

:38:21. > :38:25.on in the West Midlands economy and today's figures show employment in

:38:26. > :38:30.the region are up by 140,000 since 2010 and more than 108,000

:38:31. > :38:34.businesses work raged in the region between 2010-14. Thanks to our

:38:35. > :38:36.long-term economic plan for the Midlands engine, we've invested in

:38:37. > :38:40.public services in the West Midlands, helping to build a strong

:38:41. > :38:46.NHS, reform the education system and give the police the resources they

:38:47. > :38:53.need. Unemployment is down again in my beautiful Lichfield. And

:38:54. > :38:57.yesterday, was an absolute first for the West Midlands, when the whole

:38:58. > :39:03.region cooperated to present 33 investment schemes at an

:39:04. > :39:10.international investment creating a further 178,000 jobs. So what more

:39:11. > :39:13.can the Prime Minister do to support the Midlands engine? Apart from

:39:14. > :39:21.insuring, of course, we never get a Labour Government. I'm glad he chose

:39:22. > :39:26.to be here rather than in the South of France. Is right about these 33

:39:27. > :39:32.schemes. Last week we had a deal signed between Chinese investors and

:39:33. > :39:35.an automotive company creating 1000 jobs in Coventry. The Business

:39:36. > :39:40.Secretary was in Staffordshire as Nestle opened a new coffee factory

:39:41. > :39:43.ringing 400 jobs and of course now that historic deal with the West

:39:44. > :39:48.Midlands which will see significant new powers devolved to the combined

:39:49. > :39:52.authority and Mayor, changing the way the country is run, devolving

:39:53. > :40:02.power, building the strength of our great cities and Birmingham is the

:40:03. > :40:07.second city of our country. There is widespread reporting that the UK

:40:08. > :40:11.Government is about to commit to send ground troops to Libya to train

:40:12. > :40:17.Government forces there. Is this true and why has Parliament not been

:40:18. > :40:21.informed about it? Of course, if we had any plans to send conventional

:40:22. > :40:25.forces for training in Libya, it would come to this House and we

:40:26. > :40:30.discuss it. What we want to see the beer is the formation of a unity

:40:31. > :40:33.Government, there progress with the Prime Minister who can lead to a

:40:34. > :40:37.Government of National Accord, and we want to hear from him what

:40:38. > :40:42.assistance and help we think should be given in Libya and countries like

:40:43. > :40:46.Britain, like France, America, Italy, will definitely try and help

:40:47. > :40:50.that new Government because, right now, Libya is a people smuggling

:40:51. > :41:01.route, which is bad for Europe and for us, and also you the growth of

:41:02. > :41:05.Brexit, which is bad for us but we if we had plans for troop

:41:06. > :41:11.deployment, we were discovered in the House. The UK spent 13 times

:41:12. > :41:18.more bombing Libya than securing the peace after the overflow of the

:41:19. > :41:25.hated Gaddafi regime. The critics of UK policy, even include President

:41:26. > :41:29.Obama of the USA, so we'll Prime Minister Erdogan a to bring the

:41:30. > :41:33.issue of any potential Libyan deployment, or any British forces to

:41:34. > :41:39.Parliament, for approval, before giving the green light for that to

:41:40. > :41:43.happen? Will he give back commitment, yes or no? I'm happy to

:41:44. > :41:49.give back but as we always do. I'm very clear that it was right to take

:41:50. > :41:53.action to prevent that slaughter by Colonel Gaddafi would have carried

:41:54. > :41:59.out against his people in Benghazi. I believe that was right. Of course,

:42:00. > :42:02.Libya is in a state which is very concerning right now and everyone

:42:03. > :42:06.has to take their responsibilities for that. What I would say is, after

:42:07. > :42:10.the conflict, the British Government supported the training of Libyan

:42:11. > :42:13.troops, we brought the Libyan Prime Minister to the G8 in Northern

:42:14. > :42:16.Ireland, we went to the UN and passed resolutions to help that

:42:17. > :42:20.Government but so far we have not been able to bring about that

:42:21. > :42:24.Government of national accord, back and bring a semblance of stability

:42:25. > :42:28.and peace to that country but is it in our interest in bad Government do

:42:29. > :42:38.that? Yes, it is, and we should work with others to try to deliver that.

:42:39. > :42:43.Byron Davies. My constituency was once the first time ever by the

:42:44. > :42:47.Conservatives, and it could be transformed along with the rest of

:42:48. > :42:51.the region by the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon. Having signed a 1.2 billion

:42:52. > :42:59.deal yesterday for Cardiff, cut the PM gave an insurance they will do

:43:00. > :43:03.anything to ensure the tidal lagoon project fits the UK energy strategy

:43:04. > :43:06.and that he further recognise the economic potential this would bring

:43:07. > :43:13.to the Swansea Bay region? I thank my honourable friend. I do remember

:43:14. > :43:17.visiting his constituency just after his victory last year. I seem to

:43:18. > :43:22.remember we went to a brewery for a mild celebration. The tidal lagoon

:43:23. > :43:25.does have potential, we launched an independent review of a tidal lagoon

:43:26. > :43:28.power to better understand the technology and we will look

:43:29. > :43:30.carefully at the findings of that review and work closely with the

:43:31. > :43:40.developers to make a decision on Swansea. Wrexham and North Wales is

:43:41. > :43:43.a strong manufacturing and exporting region. But its growth is

:43:44. > :43:51.constrained by lack of access to airports in north-west England. The

:43:52. > :43:54.office for rail regulation is currently considering applications

:43:55. > :43:59.for rail paths from North Wales. Will he support a cross-party

:44:00. > :44:04.campaign for fairness for North Wales and for access to airports in

:44:05. > :44:10.north-west England? The former Secretary of State for Wales, the

:44:11. > :44:13.Honourable member for Clywd West, came to see me recently about this

:44:14. > :44:17.because I think there is a very strong argument for how we can

:44:18. > :44:20.better connect North Wales with the north-west of England and make sure

:44:21. > :44:24.we build on economic strength of both, so I will look carefully at

:44:25. > :44:30.what he says and my right honourable friend says about the potential for

:44:31. > :44:38.increasing rail capacity. James Davis. Lastly, High Court judge

:44:39. > :44:42.ruled in favour of the CPO of the great two star listed former North

:44:43. > :44:45.Wales Hospital in Denbigh, years of neglect by the offshore company

:44:46. > :44:50.owner resulted in the building being brought to the point of collapse.

:44:51. > :44:53.Thanks to the ground-breaking work carried out by Denbighshire County

:44:54. > :44:57.Council and the Princes regeneration trust, their future should now be

:44:58. > :45:01.safeguarded. But what can the Prime Minister do to prevent buildings

:45:02. > :45:05.such as these which are deemed national assets from falling into

:45:06. > :45:07.hands of those who are not fit and proper guardians and particularly

:45:08. > :45:12.those outside the control of our judicial system?

:45:13. > :45:17.My honourable friend makes an important point and I am aware of

:45:18. > :45:20.this case. It is great news that these buildings which I know how

:45:21. > :45:25.important they are will be safeguarded. They were bought by a

:45:26. > :45:29.company and left abandoned and as he says, that's no way to treat a grade

:45:30. > :45:33.II listed building of the that's why we have the powers in place for

:45:34. > :45:37.compulsory purchase orders and I think in this case, Denbighshire

:45:38. > :45:40.Council were right to use them. Councils should have the confidence

:45:41. > :45:43.that they have the measures and when appropriate, they should be prepared

:45:44. > :45:49.to use them. Two weeks ago, in front of the

:45:50. > :45:55.Education Select Committee, the head of Ofsted said that 16 to 19

:45:56. > :45:59.education should be done in a school-based environment and not in

:46:00. > :46:03.a FE institution. He went on to say some pupils head off towards the FE

:46:04. > :46:07.institution, do badly and they get lost and drop out. Does the Prime

:46:08. > :46:12.Minister agree with him? I think we need a range of settings

:46:13. > :46:16.for A-levels and for post 16 study. I would say this, there are a lot of

:46:17. > :46:21.secondary schools in our country who would like to have a sixth form and

:46:22. > :46:24.I think there are great benefits for particularly the 11-year-olds going

:46:25. > :46:29.to secondary school who can look to the top of the school and see what

:46:30. > :46:34.girls and boys are achieving 16, 17, 18, what A-level choices they're

:46:35. > :46:38.making, what futures they are thinking of and for many people it

:46:39. > :46:43.is inspiring to go to a school with a sixth form, let's encourage both

:46:44. > :46:51.and let's have the choice and that's why the academy misation of schools

:46:52. > :46:56.is very important. In apprenticeship Week, I'm sure the Prime Minister

:46:57. > :47:00.will join my thanks to the employers who created 6500 apprenticeships in

:47:01. > :47:04.Gloucester since 2010, in Gloucester Citizen for its support and all the

:47:05. > :47:09.apprentices themselves including my first apprentice, now Gloucester's

:47:10. > :47:16.youngest ever city councillor. Looking forward, would my Right

:47:17. > :47:24.Honourable friend do all he can to hasten the introduction of associate

:47:25. > :47:27.nurses? Well, the south-west has delivered over 280,000

:47:28. > :47:31.apprenticeships start since 2010, so it is pulling its weight and well

:47:32. > :47:36.done to his constituents for doing that. I think he is also right about

:47:37. > :47:42.the introduction of associate nurses, we are working with health

:47:43. > :47:47.education England to take this as another route into nursing.

:47:48. > :47:51.Mr Speaker, according to the statistics provided by the House

:47:52. > :47:55.library, there are 280,000 problem gamblers in the United Kingdom. Can

:47:56. > :47:59.the Prime Minister indicate when the Government will take forward the

:48:00. > :48:02.2010 report prepared for the Department of Culture, media and

:48:03. > :48:08.sport and does the Prime Minister agree that the money from dormant

:48:09. > :48:12.betting accounts should be used to support those whose lives have been

:48:13. > :48:15.destroyed by gambling? We will study the report carefully. We took some

:48:16. > :48:18.action in the last Parliament to deal with problem gambling in terms

:48:19. > :48:23.of the planning system and in terms of the way particularly fixed odds

:48:24. > :48:28.betting terminals worked and I'm happy to keep examining this issue

:48:29. > :48:31.and to act on the evidence and I will be discussing with the

:48:32. > :48:38.Secretary of State for Culture, media and sport.

:48:39. > :48:42.The systematic killing of Christians and other minority groups by the

:48:43. > :48:45.so-called Islamic State across the Middle East has reached

:48:46. > :48:49.unprecedented proportions. So the action being taken by Her Majesty's

:48:50. > :48:53.Government is just. But what more will my Right Honourable friend do

:48:54. > :48:58.working with the international community to halt this genocide

:48:59. > :49:04.being committed against Christians by what I call the satanic State? My

:49:05. > :49:08.honourable friend is right to draw atonings what Daesh is doing in

:49:09. > :49:12.terms of persecuting Christians and not least others of other faiths and

:49:13. > :49:16.Muslims who they take disagreement with. What we must do is keep to the

:49:17. > :49:22.plan. We can see that we have shrunk the amount of territory Daesh have

:49:23. > :49:25.in Iraq by 40%, we are seeing also some progress in Syria as well, but

:49:26. > :49:30.this is going to take time and we must show the patience and the

:49:31. > :49:35.persistence to make sure we rid the world of this evil death cult. The

:49:36. > :49:43.Prime Minister's energy policy is a complete shambles. It is wholly

:49:44. > :49:47.dependant on the troubled and expensive nuclear plant at Hinkley.

:49:48. > :49:52.There is barely a Plan A let alone a Plan B. Is the Prime Minister

:49:53. > :49:57.seeking to build the world's most expensive power station or the

:49:58. > :50:01.world's biggest white elephant? We are planning on continuing with the

:50:02. > :50:04.successful energy policy which is seeing cheaper energy and lower

:50:05. > :50:07.carbon at the same time. The strength of the Hinkley deal is

:50:08. > :50:11.there is no payment unless this power station goes ahead and is

:50:12. > :50:17.built efficiently by EDF and I think that will be good for our energy

:50:18. > :50:20.supplies because if you want to have energy at low-cost and low-carbon,

:50:21. > :50:32.you need to have strong nuclear energy at the heart of your system.

:50:33. > :50:41.Thank you, Mr Speaker. Research UK situated in my constituency is the

:50:42. > :50:44.world's first charity to acle anti-my robial resistance. Would the

:50:45. > :50:49.Prime Minister agree to meet with me to see how we can fund their vital

:50:50. > :50:54.research so that this time, it is not the Americans that save the

:50:55. > :50:59.world, but the British? I am happy to meet with my honourable friend.

:51:00. > :51:04.He is right to raise this issue, because of the resistance to

:51:05. > :51:09.antibiotics and antibiotics aren't working, we do face a genuine

:51:10. > :51:13.medical emergency around the world. That is why Britain must put this

:51:14. > :51:16.issue squarely on the agenda of the G20, why it was a large part of our

:51:17. > :51:22.discussions with the Chinese when they made the State visit last year

:51:23. > :51:25.and why we are investing ?50 million in an innovation fund working with

:51:26. > :51:28.the Chinese Government to take this forward and I hope the organisation

:51:29. > :51:32.in his constituency can benefit from solicitor of the research.

:51:33. > :51:37.Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister will know his Home Secretary is once

:51:38. > :51:40.again trying to deport Afghan interpreters seeking sanctuary in

:51:41. > :51:44.the United Kingdom. These brave people risked their lives, serving

:51:45. > :51:49.our armed forces, yet they now face being sent back for mercy of the

:51:50. > :51:52.Taliban and to join hundreds of thousands of people rotting in

:51:53. > :51:56.refugee camps. Is this how Britain should we pay those who put their

:51:57. > :52:01.lives on the line for us? Will he do the right thing and do whatever

:52:02. > :52:05.possible to ensure they are offered safe haven here? Well, what we did

:52:06. > :52:11.in the last Government in which his party played a role was that we

:52:12. > :52:16.agreed a set of conditions for Afghan interpreters to be able to

:52:17. > :52:20.come to the UK and be given sanctuary, but we provided for a

:52:21. > :52:24.scheme so those who wanted to stay and help rebuild their country were

:52:25. > :52:30.able to do so and I would defend that scheme even if his party

:52:31. > :52:35.changed its mind. Thank you, Mr Speaker. My

:52:36. > :52:41.constituent Deborah Read and her sister watched her mother waste away

:52:42. > :52:44.in hospital after a fall. Last week my Right Honourable friend the

:52:45. > :52:48.Health Secretary host add global summit on patient safety and

:52:49. > :52:51.announced the creation of the new healthcare safety investigation

:52:52. > :52:55.branch. What more can the Government do to ensure patient safety is at

:52:56. > :52:58.the heart of the NHS and prevent such instances occurring in the

:52:59. > :53:03.future? I think my honourable friend is

:53:04. > :53:06.right to raise cases like this and obviously they are horrendous when

:53:07. > :53:09.they take place and they should be properly investigated. We need to

:53:10. > :53:12.learn the lessons from them. We have made some progress, the proportion

:53:13. > :53:18.of patients being harmed in the NHS has dropped by over a third in the

:53:19. > :53:22.last two years and MRSA, blood stream infections have fallen by

:53:23. > :53:28.over half in the last five years. The Health Secretary is right to

:53:29. > :53:33.hold this conference and to examine what other industries and practises

:53:34. > :53:36.have done in order to have a 100%, you know, zero accident safety

:53:37. > :53:40.culture. We have seen this in other walks of life and it is time we

:53:41. > :53:47.aplayed it to the NHS. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Just eight

:53:48. > :53:51.days ago, Oliver Tetlo popped to the shops and he was brutally shot dead.

:53:52. > :53:55.The community are shocked and saddened by this murder of an

:53:56. > :53:59.innocent young man. They have asked for more community local policing

:54:00. > :54:02.and more youth engagement. Will the Prime Minister meet with me and some

:54:03. > :54:07.community champions to discuss how we can make our streets safer?

:54:08. > :54:11.The honourable lady raises a very important point and what we have

:54:12. > :54:15.seen in London, is actually a reduction in gun crime. It is a

:54:16. > :54:18.tragic case she refers to and our hearts go out to the family of the

:54:19. > :54:22.person that she talks about. But we have seen a reduction. We have seen

:54:23. > :54:24.more active policing in our communities, better intelligence

:54:25. > :54:27.policing in terms of dealing with gun crimes and we must keep that up

:54:28. > :54:31.and I will certainly arrange whatever meeting I think is best to

:54:32. > :54:37.ensure the voices she mentioned are listened to.

:54:38. > :54:42.Thank you, Mr Speaker. As my Right Honourable friend will be aware,

:54:43. > :54:47.highways England are consulting on a new lower Thames crossing with their

:54:48. > :54:51.preferred option being option C which will divert 14% of traffic

:54:52. > :54:54.away from the existing the Dartford Crossing. Before spending billions

:54:55. > :54:58.on the new crossing, we should sort out the problem at the existing

:54:59. > :55:04.crossing? Not only helping a greater number of motorists, but to improve

:55:05. > :55:07.illegal levels of poor air quality, and restore resilience to the M25

:55:08. > :55:13.motorway network and will he meet with me to discuss these matters

:55:14. > :55:17.further? We need to tackle congestion and air

:55:18. > :55:22.quality and actually stationary traffic is more polluting than

:55:23. > :55:25.moving traffic so sorting out the problems at the existing the

:55:26. > :55:29.Dartford Crossing is important, but we have got to look at the options

:55:30. > :55:33.for a new crossing. Two locations are on the table as a result of

:55:34. > :55:38.early detailed work and these are the best available ogsesment

:55:39. > :55:41.highways England looked in detail at both locations in terms of their

:55:42. > :55:44.look forward to seeing what they look forward to seeing what they

:55:45. > :55:52.recommend and when they do, I hope we can make progress. We need the

:55:53. > :55:56.traffic to be flowing smoothly. On reflection, was it wise of the

:55:57. > :56:00.chancellor to bank on the theory of a ?27 billion windfall when it has

:56:01. > :56:03.only vanished in the space of the last three months?

:56:04. > :56:08.We will be hearing a lot from the Chancellor in a minute or two, but

:56:09. > :56:12.what would I would say we have got an economy which is fundamentally

:56:13. > :56:16.strong, facing a very difficult set of world circumstances, but here in

:56:17. > :56:21.Britain, when you look at it, unemployment at 5%, inflation at

:56:22. > :56:24.virtually 0%, the unemployment figures today showing unemployment

:56:25. > :56:29.falling again and wages growing at 2%. That is a better record than

:56:30. > :56:33.most other countries in the developed world can boast and a lot

:56:34. > :56:40.is down to the very clear plan set out by my Right Honourable friend

:56:41. > :56:44.and followed these last six years. Last week was English tourism week

:56:45. > :56:50.and I was delighted to welcome an international deggation to the Eden

:56:51. > :56:52.Project to promote Cornwall as a destination for international

:56:53. > :56:57.tourists, visitor numbers are up in Cornwall, but there is still more we

:56:58. > :57:01.can do to attract overseas visitors out of London and into our country.

:57:02. > :57:05.Can I ask the Prime Minister what more the Government can do to

:57:06. > :57:08.promote the tourist and to get more overseas visitors to come to

:57:09. > :57:11.Cornwall? There is, as far as I'm concerned, nothing finer than

:57:12. > :57:15.getting out of London and getting down to Cornwall and no better place

:57:16. > :57:24.than the beach when the sun is setting and the waves are big! And

:57:25. > :57:28.my phone is working! He is right, and the Daily Mail photographer has

:57:29. > :57:33.gone home too. That is helps! But what we need to do get people who

:57:34. > :57:37.come to our country, to spend sometime outside London and that is

:57:38. > :57:41.what some of the new schemes we have announced like for instance, the ?40

:57:42. > :57:44.million Discover England fund are all about and I would urge the

:57:45. > :57:51.authorities in Cornwall to make the most of it.

:57:52. > :57:55.Mr Speaker, in 2014, we exported ?12.8 billion worth of food

:57:56. > :58:02.products. With 73% of that total going to other European States. No

:58:03. > :58:06.wonder that 71% of Food and Drink Federation members want us to avoid

:58:07. > :58:11.Brexit. Does the Prime Minister think that our prospects of

:58:12. > :58:15.improving further the export profile of food manufacturing will be

:58:16. > :58:20.strengthened by staying in the European Union?

:58:21. > :58:24.Well, I think the view from food manufacturers and indeed, from

:58:25. > :58:28.farmers and from the wider business community.81% of whom yesterday said

:58:29. > :58:33.they wanted to stay in a reform Europe I think is very clear and the

:58:34. > :58:35.arguments on food are clearment our farmers produce some of the cleanest

:58:36. > :58:40.and best food anywhere in the world and they know they have access to a

:58:41. > :58:43.market of 500 million consumers without tariffs, without quotas and

:58:44. > :58:47.without any problems and we shouldn't put that at risk. And when

:58:48. > :58:52.we look at some of the alternatives to being a part of the single

:58:53. > :58:54.market, for instance, a Canadian-style free trade deal we

:58:55. > :58:57.can see there are restrictions for instance quotas on beef and I don't

:58:58. > :58:59.want to see that applying to British farmers who have got so much to be

:59:00. > :59:15.proud of. Does my Right Honourable friend

:59:16. > :59:20.agree that having an inspirational mentor can provide young people with

:59:21. > :59:27.the opportunities they would never have benefited from before? Can he

:59:28. > :59:31.tell me how the ?14 million that the Government will be putting into a

:59:32. > :59:34.new national mentoring scheme will be able to benefit some of the most

:59:35. > :59:40.disadvantaged children in our society?

:59:41. > :59:43.I agree with my Right Honourable friend. One of the most important

:59:44. > :59:48.things that our schools can look to do in the future is to encourage,

:59:49. > :59:51.mentors from business, from the public sector, from charities, into

:59:52. > :59:57.their schools to give that extra one on one help that young people so

:59:58. > :00:00.benefit from. I was at an academy in Southwark yesterday to see how well

:00:01. > :00:04.that is going, where every child studying GCSEs who wants a mentor,

:00:05. > :00:08.can get them and I think it makes a huge difference to those children's

:00:09. > :00:12.life chances. The ?14 million we're putting in should allow an extra

:00:13. > :00:15.25,000 of the most disadvantaged people in our country have a mentor

:00:16. > :00:19.and I would urge all schools to look at this. I think there are so many

:00:20. > :00:22.people in business, in the public sector, in charities, would love to

:00:23. > :00:27.take part in this and help young people achieve their potential.

:00:28. > :00:32.The Prime Minister likes to suggest he's a champion of localism but

:00:33. > :00:37.today his Government is seeking to guide local communities with a crass

:00:38. > :00:40.forced academies policy that stamps out local consultation and dissent.

:00:41. > :00:46.Can he explain to the vast majority of parents and residents in Brighton

:00:47. > :00:49.and Hove Albion recently rejected academy status for two local

:00:50. > :00:54.schools, why it is that their views count for nothing in the future? I

:00:55. > :00:59.would argue that academy schools are to devolution because you end up

:01:00. > :01:03.with the parents, the governors, the head teacher having full control of

:01:04. > :01:07.the school, able to make decisions about the future about school and at

:01:08. > :01:11.that does not convince her, I would say look at the results. That you

:01:12. > :01:15.look at primary sponsored academies you can see they have got better

:01:16. > :01:20.records and are improving faster, if you look at the converter academy

:01:21. > :01:26.schools, 88% rated good outstanding, to devolution on making sure every

:01:27. > :01:34.headteacher is in charge of their school providing the great education

:01:35. > :01:39.we want for our children. My constituents Jackie Woodcock has got

:01:40. > :01:42.terminal breast cancer, she has shown outstanding courage in her

:01:43. > :01:45.fight against the disease but unfortunately she did not get the

:01:46. > :01:49.support or compassion of her employer who wanted to dismiss it

:01:50. > :01:56.through capability procedures. Now her former partner is trying to get

:01:57. > :01:59.the House they own repossessed, leaving her homeless, whilst dying.

:02:00. > :02:04.With the Prime Minister Erdogan with me that we require better protection

:02:05. > :02:08.for working people who are diagnosed with a terminal illness and will you

:02:09. > :02:13.join with me and Jackie in supporting the changes as outlined

:02:14. > :02:17.in the TUC's dying to work campaign? I think the point is my honourable

:02:18. > :02:20.friend makes is right, and I will look carefully at the case she

:02:21. > :02:26.raises full from the truth is, in all of these things, as well as

:02:27. > :02:30.having clear rules, we also need organisations, employers, housing

:02:31. > :02:34.associations, landlords, indeed trade unions, to act with genuine

:02:35. > :02:40.compassion, and to think of the human being at the other end of the

:02:41. > :02:44.telephone. Order. Prime Minister's Questions comes to an end and as a

:02:45. > :02:49.traditional on Budget Day, the senior Deputy Speaker takes the

:02:50. > :02:52.chair, the chairman of ways and Means, the old Parliamentary

:02:53. > :02:55.committee which traditionally scrutinised financial measures and

:02:56. > :02:58.they're getting ready now and for the Budget statement by the

:02:59. > :03:04.Chancellor, George Osborne. Let's join proceedings. Order, before I

:03:05. > :03:06.call the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I remind Honourable

:03:07. > :03:10.members copies of the Budget resolutions will be available to

:03:11. > :03:16.them in the office at the end of the Chancellor's speech. It also remind

:03:17. > :03:20.Honourable members not it is not the norm to intervene on the Chancellor

:03:21. > :03:23.of the Exchequer or the Leader of the Opposition. I now call the right

:03:24. > :03:31.Honourable George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

:03:32. > :03:38.Mr Deputy Speaker, today I report on an economy set to grow faster than

:03:39. > :03:45.any other major advanced economy in the world. I report on a labour

:03:46. > :03:49.market delivering the highest employment in our history. And I

:03:50. > :03:55.report on a deficit down by two thirds, falling each year, and I can

:03:56. > :04:03.confirm today on course for a Budget surplus. The British economy is

:04:04. > :04:07.stronger because we confronted our country's problems and took the

:04:08. > :04:14.difficult decisions. The British economy is growing because we didn't

:04:15. > :04:21.seek short-term fixes, but pursued a long-term economic plan. The British

:04:22. > :04:24.economy is resilient because whatever the challenge, however

:04:25. > :04:28.strong the headwinds, we have held to the course we set out. I must

:04:29. > :04:34.tell the House that we face such a challenge now. Financial markets are

:04:35. > :04:39.turbulent, productivity growth across the West is too low, and the

:04:40. > :04:43.outlook for the global economy is weak, it makes for a dangerous

:04:44. > :04:51.cocktail of risks, but one that Britain is well prepared to handle

:04:52. > :04:54.if we act now so we don't pay later. Mr Deputy Speaker, Britain has

:04:55. > :04:58.learnt to its cost what happens when you base your economic policy on the

:04:59. > :05:04.assumption you have abolished boom and bust. Britain is not immune to

:05:05. > :05:11.slowdowns and shocks and nor is the nation powerless, we have a choice.

:05:12. > :05:14.We can choose to add to the risk and uncertainty or choose to be a force

:05:15. > :05:21.of stability, in this Budget we choose to put stability first.

:05:22. > :05:26.Britain can choose, as others are, short-term fixes and more stimulus

:05:27. > :05:31.or lead the world with long-term solutions, for long-term problems.

:05:32. > :05:36.In this Budget, we choose the long term, we choose to put the

:05:37. > :05:39.next-generation first. We choose, as Conservatives should always choose,

:05:40. > :05:47.sound public finances to deliver security. Lower taxes on his knees

:05:48. > :05:50.and enterprise, to create jobs, reform, improve schools, investment

:05:51. > :05:55.to build homes and infrastructure because we know that's the only way

:05:56. > :06:00.to deliver real opportunity and social mobility. And, as

:06:01. > :06:04.Conservatives, the best way we can help working people is to help them

:06:05. > :06:10.to save and let them keep more of the money they earn. Now that is the

:06:11. > :06:13.path we followed over the past five years and it's given us one of the

:06:14. > :06:18.strongest economies in the world. And that is the path we will follow

:06:19. > :06:23.in the years ahead, in this Budget we will redouble our efforts to make

:06:24. > :06:27.Britain fit for the future. Mr Deputy Speaker, let me turn to the

:06:28. > :06:32.economic forecasts. I want to thank Robert choke and the Office for

:06:33. > :06:36.Budget Responsibility to make sure they have available to them the best

:06:37. > :06:41.statistics in the world, I'm accepting all of the recommendations

:06:42. > :06:46.of Sir Charlie Bean's excellent rapport and I want to take this

:06:47. > :06:49.moment to thank another great public servant, Sir Nicholas Macpherson,

:06:50. > :06:53.who has served as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury for ten

:06:54. > :06:57.years under three very different Chancellor's and, throughout Commies

:06:58. > :07:01.always demonstrated the great British civil service values of

:07:02. > :07:07.integrity and impartiality. He is here today to watch the last of 34

:07:08. > :07:11.Budget he's worked on and on behalf of the House and the dedicated

:07:12. > :07:19.Treasury I thank him for his service. The OBR tell us today in

:07:20. > :07:22.every year the forecast our economy grows and so too does our

:07:23. > :07:28.productivity. But they have revised down growth in the world economy and

:07:29. > :07:32.in world trade full in their words, the outlook is materially weaker.

:07:33. > :07:36.They point to the turbulence in financial markets, slower growth in

:07:37. > :07:41.emerging economies like China, and a weak growth across the developed

:07:42. > :07:44.world. Around the globe, they note that monetary policy, instead of

:07:45. > :07:51.normalising this year as expected, has been loosened, we've seen the

:07:52. > :07:54.bank of Japan join Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and the European Central

:07:55. > :07:59.Bank with unprecedented negative interest rates, the OBR also note

:08:00. > :08:04.this reflects concerns across the West about low productivity growth.

:08:05. > :08:09.The secretary-general of the OECD said last month productivity growth

:08:10. > :08:13.has been decelerating in a vast majority of countries and, as a

:08:14. > :08:18.result, the most significant change, the OBR has made since the November

:08:19. > :08:22.forecast, it is their decision to revise down potential UK

:08:23. > :08:27.productivity growth. The had thought that what they described as the drag

:08:28. > :08:31.from the financial crisis on our productivity would have eased by

:08:32. > :08:36.now, but the latest status shows it does not. The OBR acknowledged today

:08:37. > :08:42.that this revision is in their own words a highly uncertain judgment

:08:43. > :08:45.call but I back than 100%. We saw under the last Labour Government

:08:46. > :08:50.what happened when Chancellor revised upward trend growth rate,

:08:51. > :08:54.spent money the country did not have, and left it to the next

:08:55. > :09:02.generation to pick up the bill. I am not going to let that happen on my

:09:03. > :09:06.watch. Now these days, thanks to the fact we have established independent

:09:07. > :09:10.forecasts, our country is confronted with the truth as economic

:09:11. > :09:15.challenges emerge and can act on them before it's too late. We fix

:09:16. > :09:22.our plans to fit the figures, we don't fix the figures to fit the

:09:23. > :09:27.plans. The IMF have warned us this month that the global economy is at

:09:28. > :09:32.a delicate juncture and faces a growing risk of economic derailment.

:09:33. > :09:37.Eight years ago, Britain was the worst prepared of any other major

:09:38. > :09:40.economies for the crisis we then faced. Today, Britain is amongst the

:09:41. > :09:45.best prepared for whatever challenges may lie ahead. And that

:09:46. > :09:53.is what our long-term economic plan has all been about. When I became

:09:54. > :09:58.Chancellor, we borrowed ?1 in every four we spent. Next day, it'll be ?1

:09:59. > :10:03.in every 14 that we spend. Our banks have doubled their capital ratios,

:10:04. > :10:08.we have doubled our foreign exchange reserves, and we have a clear

:10:09. > :10:13.consistent and accountable monetary policy framework around the world.

:10:14. > :10:18.The hard work of fixing our economy is paying off. In 2014, we were the

:10:19. > :10:24.fastest major growing advanced economy in the world. In 2015, we

:10:25. > :10:30.were ahead of everyone that America. So let me give the OBR's latest

:10:31. > :10:33.forecast for economic growth in the face of the new assessment

:10:34. > :10:40.productivity and a slowing global economy. Last year, GDP grew by

:10:41. > :10:48.2.2%. The OBR now forecast it will grow by 2% this year and then 2.2%

:10:49. > :10:53.again in 2017 and then 2.1% in each of the three years after that. The

:10:54. > :11:01.House will want to know how this compares to other countries. I can

:11:02. > :11:03.confirm that in these turbulent times, the latest international

:11:04. > :11:12.forecast expects Britain to grow faster this year than any other

:11:13. > :11:20.major advanced economy in the world. Mr Deputy Speaker, the OBR are

:11:21. > :11:26.explicit today that their forecasts are predicated on Britain remaining

:11:27. > :11:34.in the European Union. Over the next... Over the next few months

:11:35. > :11:38.this country is going to debate the merits of leaving all remaining in

:11:39. > :11:44.the European Union. I have many colleagues who I respect greatly on

:11:45. > :11:48.both sides of the argument. The OBR correctly state out of the political

:11:49. > :11:53.debate and they do not assess the long-term costs and benefits of EU

:11:54. > :11:58.membership but they do say this and I quote them directly, "A voter to

:11:59. > :12:03.leave in the forthcoming referendum could usher in an extended period of

:12:04. > :12:06.uncertainty regarding the precise terms of the UK's future

:12:07. > :12:12.relationship with the EU." They go on to say, "This club have negative

:12:13. > :12:16.implications for activity by business and consumer confidence and

:12:17. > :12:20.might result in greater volatility in financial and other asset

:12:21. > :12:26.markets." They cite a number of external reports, the OBR say this,

:12:27. > :12:31."There appears to be a greater consensus that a vote to leave would

:12:32. > :12:35.result in a period potentially disruptive uncertainty while the

:12:36. > :12:40.precise details of the UK's new relationship with the EU were

:12:41. > :12:44.negotiated." The House knows my view, Britain will be stronger,

:12:45. > :12:50.safer and better off in the side a reformed European Union. I believe

:12:51. > :12:52.it should not put at risk all the hard work the British people have

:12:53. > :13:05.done to make our economy strong again. Mr Deputy Speaker... Order.

:13:06. > :13:08.Let's be honest, we all want to hear what the Chancellor has got to say.

:13:09. > :13:13.Some people may agree and some people may disagree, but I want to

:13:14. > :13:20.hear him. The electorate want to hear him. This country wants to hear

:13:21. > :13:22.him. Chancellor. Let me turn to the OBR forecast for the labour market.

:13:23. > :13:33.Since the Autumn Statement four months ago, we've created over 150

:13:34. > :13:39.more jobs than the OBR expected -- 150,000 jobs extra families with the

:13:40. > :13:44.security of work, 150,000 reasons to support a la long-term economic

:13:45. > :13:49.plan. This morning, unemployment fell again. It reached the highest

:13:50. > :13:56.level ever and the data confirmed we have the lowest proportion of people

:13:57. > :14:02.claiming out of work benefits since November 1974. The OBR are

:14:03. > :14:09.forecasting 1 million more jobs over this Parliament, and we remember

:14:10. > :14:15.what our political opponents said in the last parliament. They claimed 1

:14:16. > :14:19.million jobs would be lost. Instead, 2 million were created. And when the

:14:20. > :14:24.jobs started coming, we were told they would be low skilled. But

:14:25. > :14:30.today, we know almost 90% of new jobs are instilled occupations that

:14:31. > :14:34.in skilled occupations. Jobs we were told were going to part-time but

:14:35. > :14:39.three quarters are full-time, Weaver told jobs would all be in London but

:14:40. > :14:42.the unemployment rate is falling fastest in the north-east, youth

:14:43. > :14:47.unemployment is falling fast in the West Midlands can't employment is

:14:48. > :14:51.going fastest in the north-west. In today's forecast real wages continue

:14:52. > :14:56.to grow and inflation in each and every

:14:57. > :15:05.Mr Deputy Speaker, the OBR forecasts lower inflation, 0.7% this year and

:15:06. > :15:08.1.6% next year. I am today confirming in a letter to the

:15:09. > :15:13.governor of the Bank of England that the remit for the Monetary Policy

:15:14. > :15:18.Committee remains the se meet trick CPI inflation target of 2%. I'm also

:15:19. > :15:22.publishing the new remit for the financial policy committee, the body

:15:23. > :15:26.we created to keep an eye on emerging long-term risks in our

:15:27. > :15:30.financial system, I'm asking them to be particularly vigilant in the face

:15:31. > :15:34.of current market turbulence because in this Budget, we act now, so we

:15:35. > :15:39.don't pay later. Mr Deputy Speaker, that brings me to

:15:40. > :15:43.our approach to public spending and the OBR forecasts for our public

:15:44. > :15:48.finances. In every year since 2010, I have been told by the opposition

:15:49. > :15:51.that now is not the right time to cut Government spending. When the

:15:52. > :15:55.economy is growing, I'm told, we can afford to spend more. When the

:15:56. > :15:59.economy isn't growing I'm told we can't afford not to. Today I'm

:16:00. > :16:05.publishing new analysis that shows that if we hadn't taken the action

:16:06. > :16:11.we did in 2010 and listened to our opponents, then borrowing would have

:16:12. > :16:15.been ?930 billion more by the end of the decade than it is now forecast

:16:16. > :16:21.today. If we had taken their advice,

:16:22. > :16:24.Britain would not have been one of the best economies for the current

:16:25. > :16:31.global uncertainties, we would have been one of the worst prepared. Now,

:16:32. > :16:39.the very same people are saying to us, we should spend more again.

:16:40. > :16:42.I reject that dangerous advice. The security of families and businesses

:16:43. > :16:49.depends on Britain living within its means. Last autumn's Spending Review

:16:50. > :16:53.delivers a reduction in Government consumption that is judged by the

:16:54. > :16:58.OBR to be the most sustained under taken in the last 100 years of

:16:59. > :17:03.British history barring the periods of demobilisation after the first

:17:04. > :17:09.and Second World Wars, my spending plans in the last Parliament reduce

:17:10. > :17:13.the share of income from the 45% we inherited to 40% today. My spending

:17:14. > :17:18.plans in this Parliament will see it fall to 36.9% by the end of this

:17:19. > :17:24.decade. In other words, the country will be spending no more than the

:17:25. > :17:28.country raises in taxes. We are achieving this while at the same

:17:29. > :17:32.time increasing resources for our NHS and schools, building new

:17:33. > :17:38.infrastructure, and increasing our security at home and abroad. The OBR

:17:39. > :17:41.now tells us that the world has become more uncertain so we have two

:17:42. > :17:45.option. We can ignore the latest information and spend more than the

:17:46. > :17:51.one can afford, that's precisely the mistake that was made a decade ago,

:17:52. > :17:57.or we can live in the world as it is and cut our cloth accordingly. I say

:17:58. > :18:01.we act now, so we don't pay later. I'm asking the Chief Secretary and

:18:02. > :18:05.the Paymaster General to undertake a further drive for efficiency and

:18:06. > :18:12.value for money. The aim is to save a further ?3.5 billion in the year

:18:13. > :18:17.2019 ssh 20 and less than 0.5% of Government spending in four years

:18:18. > :18:19.time, that is more than achievable while maintaining the protebss we

:18:20. > :18:22.have set out. At the same time we will continue to deliver sensible

:18:23. > :18:27.reforms to keep Britain living within its means. On welfare, last

:18:28. > :18:32.week, the Secretary of State for Work and pensions set out changes

:18:33. > :18:36.that will ensure that within the rising disability budget support is

:18:37. > :18:40.better targeted at those who need it most. Let me confirm, that this

:18:41. > :18:49.means the disability budget will rise by more than ?1 billion, we

:18:50. > :18:52.will be spending more in real terms supporting disabled people than at

:18:53. > :18:57.any point under the last Labour Government. On international aid, I

:18:58. > :19:04.am proud to be part of the Government that was the first to

:19:05. > :19:06.honour Britain's commitment to spend 0.7% of Britain's income on

:19:07. > :19:13.development. We won't spend more than that, the budget will be

:19:14. > :19:17.readjusted saving ?650 million in 2019/20. We will keep public sector

:19:18. > :19:21.pensions sustainable. We reformed them in the last Parliament which

:19:22. > :19:26.will save over ?400 billion in the long-term. To ensure those pensions

:19:27. > :19:32.remain sustainable, we've carried out the regular revaluation of the

:19:33. > :19:35.discount rate and the public sector employer contributions will rise as

:19:36. > :19:38.a result. This will not affect anyone's pension and will be

:19:39. > :19:44.affordable within spending plans that are benefiting from the fiscal

:19:45. > :19:48.windfall of lower inflation. Each of these decisions are a demonstration

:19:49. > :19:53.of our determinedation that the British economy will stay on course

:19:54. > :20:00.and we will not burden our children and grandchildren. This is a Budget

:20:01. > :20:04.for the next generation. Mr Deputy Speaker, let me give the OBR's

:20:05. > :20:08.forecasts for the debt and the deficit. The combination of our

:20:09. > :20:14.action to reduce borrowing this year along with the revisions to our

:20:15. > :20:17.nominal GDP driven by lower inflation produced this por

:20:18. > :20:22.docksical result, the national debt is lower than it was forecast to be

:20:23. > :20:26.in the autumn. But so too is the nominal size of our economy. We

:20:27. > :20:31.measure the fiscal target against debt to GDP. So while debt as a

:20:32. > :20:37.percentage of GDP is above target and set to be higher in 2015/16 than

:20:38. > :20:40.the year before compared to the forecast, the actual level of our

:20:41. > :20:52.national debt is in cash, ?9 billion lower. In the future, debt falls to

:20:53. > :20:58.82.6% next year then.81.3% in 2017/18 and then 79.9% the year

:20:59. > :21:04.after and in 2019/20, it falls again to 77.2% and down again the year

:21:05. > :21:09.after to 74.7%. Let me turn to the forecasts for the deficit. When I

:21:10. > :21:14.became chancellor, the deficit we inherited was forecast to reach

:21:15. > :21:20.11.1% of national income. The highest level in the peace time

:21:21. > :21:24.history of Britain. Thanks our sustained action, the

:21:25. > :21:33.deficit is forecast to fall next year to just over a quarter of that

:21:34. > :21:41.at 2.9%. In 2017/18, it falls to 1.9%. Then it falls again to 1% in

:21:42. > :21:46.2018/19. In cash terms, in 2010, British borrowing was a totally

:21:47. > :21:51.unsustainable ?150 billion a year. This year we are expected to borrow

:21:52. > :21:56.less than half of that at ?72.2 billion. Indeed, our borrowing this

:21:57. > :22:02.year is lower than the OBR forecast in the amount. Borrowing continues

:22:03. > :22:07.to fall, but not by as much as before to ?55.5 billion next year,

:22:08. > :22:13.?38.8 billion the year after that and ?21.4 billion in 2018/19. Now, I

:22:14. > :22:16.know there has been concern that the challenging economic times mean we

:22:17. > :22:20.would lose our surplus the following year and that would have been the

:22:21. > :22:26.case if we had not taken further action today to control spending and

:22:27. > :22:31.make savings. But because we have acted decisively, in 2019/20,

:22:32. > :22:36.Britain is set to have a surplus of ?10.4 billion.

:22:37. > :22:41.That surplus is set to rise to ?11 billion the year after, that's 0.5%

:22:42. > :22:45.of GDP in both years. We said we would take the action necessary to

:22:46. > :22:50.give Britain's families economic security. We said our country would

:22:51. > :22:55.not repeat the mistakes of the past and instead live within our means.

:22:56. > :22:59.Today, we maintain that commitment to long-term stability, in

:23:00. > :23:05.challenging times, decisive action to achieve a ?10 billion surplus, we

:23:06. > :23:14.act now so we don't pay later, we put the next generation first.

:23:15. > :23:17.Mr Deputy Speaker, in every Budget I've given, action against tax

:23:18. > :23:21.avoidance and evasion has contributed to the repair of our

:23:22. > :23:28.public finances and this Budget is no different. In the red book, we

:23:29. > :23:32.set out in detail the action we will take to shutdown, disguised renone

:23:33. > :23:37.ration schemes, to ensure the UK tax will be paid on UK property

:23:38. > :23:42.development. We changed the treatment of free plays for remote

:23:43. > :23:47.gaming providers, we limit capital tax treatments and cap exempt gains

:23:48. > :23:51.in the employee shareholder status, public sector organisations will

:23:52. > :23:55.have a new duty to ensure those working for them pay the correct tax

:23:56. > :23:59.rather than giving a tax advantage to those who choose to contract

:24:00. > :24:06.their work through personal service companies. Loans to participators

:24:07. > :24:09.will be taxed at 32.5%, to prevent tax avoidance and we will tighten

:24:10. > :24:16.rules around the use of termination payments. Termination payments over

:24:17. > :24:21.?30,000 are already subject to income tax from 2018 they will

:24:22. > :24:26.attract employer national insurance. Taken together, the further steps in

:24:27. > :24:30.this Budget to stop tax evasion and prevent tax avoidance and tackle

:24:31. > :24:35.imbalances in the system will raise ?12 billion for our country over

:24:36. > :24:40.this Parliament. The party opposite talked about social justice, but

:24:41. > :24:45.left enormous loopholes in our tax system for the very richest to

:24:46. > :24:49.exploit. While the independent statistics confirm that under this

:24:50. > :24:55.Prime Minister, child poverty is down. Pensioner poverty is down.

:24:56. > :25:02.Inequality is down. And the gender pay gap has never been smaller.

:25:03. > :25:05.The distributional analysis published today shows that the

:25:06. > :25:10.proportion of welfare and public services going to the poorest has

:25:11. > :25:17.been protected and I can report that the latest figures confirm the

:25:18. > :25:21.richest 1% paid 28% of all income tax revenue, a higher proportion

:25:22. > :25:26.than in any single year of the last Labour Government.

:25:27. > :25:31.Proof that we are all in this together.

:25:32. > :25:36.So... THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is strange

:25:37. > :25:40.that we can't hear your own Chancellor of the Exchequer. I want

:25:41. > :25:44.to hear, I'm sure you must do as well. The Chancellor of the

:25:45. > :25:51.Exchequer. So Mr Deputy Speaker, I can report

:25:52. > :25:55.solid steady growth, more jobs, lower inflation, and an economy on

:25:56. > :25:59.course for a surplus, and all done in a fair way, a Britain prepared

:26:00. > :26:08.for whatever the world throws at us because we've stuck to our long-term

:26:09. > :26:12.economic plan. Mr Deputy Speaker, credible fiscal policy and affected

:26:13. > :26:16.monetary policy has only ever been part of our plan, a crucial

:26:17. > :26:19.ingredient has always been the lasting structural reforms needed to

:26:20. > :26:23.make our economy fit for the future and with new risks on the horizon

:26:24. > :26:27.and with all western countries looking for ways to increase living

:26:28. > :26:32.standards, now is not the time to go easy on our structural reforms. It

:26:33. > :26:38.is time to redouble our efforts. My Budget's last year delivered key

:26:39. > :26:40.improvements to productivity, by the apprenticeship levy, lower

:26:41. > :26:46.corporation tax and the national Living Wage. My Budget this year

:26:47. > :26:53.sets out these further bold steps we need to take. One, fundamental

:26:54. > :26:58.reform of the business tax system, loopholes closed, reliefs reduced,

:26:59. > :27:02.but so too rates, a huge boost for small business and enterprise. Two,

:27:03. > :27:06.a radical devolution of power so more of the responsibility and the

:27:07. > :27:11.rewards of economic growth are in the hands of local communities.

:27:12. > :27:15.Three, major new commitments to the national infrastructure projects of

:27:16. > :27:18.the future. Four, confronting the obstacles that stand in the way of

:27:19. > :27:23.important improvements to education and our children's future. And five,

:27:24. > :27:28.backing people who work hard and save. In short, this Budget puts the

:27:29. > :27:35.next generation first and I take each step in turn. Mr Deputy

:27:36. > :27:38.Speaker, in the last Parliament, I cut corporation tax dramatically,

:27:39. > :27:41.but I also introduced the diverted profits tax to catch those trying to

:27:42. > :27:46.shift profits overseas. As a result, Britain went from one of the least

:27:47. > :27:50.competitive business tax regimes to one of the most competitive and we

:27:51. > :27:53.raised much more money for our public services. Today the financial

:27:54. > :27:57.second and I are publishing a road map to make Britain's business tax

:27:58. > :28:01.system fit for the future. It will deliver a low tax regime that will

:28:02. > :28:05.attract the multinational businesses we want to see in Britain, but

:28:06. > :28:11.ensure they pay taxes here too. Soing that never happened under a

:28:12. > :28:15.Labour Government. And it will level the playing field which has been

:28:16. > :28:21.tilted against small firms. The approach we take is guided by the

:28:22. > :28:24.best practise set out by the OECD, work which Britain called for and

:28:25. > :28:33.Britain paid and Britain will be among the very first to implement.

:28:34. > :28:38.First, some multinationals over borrow in the UK. So from April next

:28:39. > :28:42.year, we will restrict interest deductibility for the largest

:28:43. > :28:46.companies at 30% of UK earnings while making sure firms whose

:28:47. > :28:55.activities justify higher borrowing are protected with a group ratio

:28:56. > :29:00.rule. Next, we are setting new hybrid mismatch rules which allow

:29:01. > :29:06.some multinationals to avoid paying tax anywhere or to deduct the same

:29:07. > :29:10.expenses in more than one country. Some firms shift money to tax havens

:29:11. > :29:15.and lastly, we are going to modernise the way we treat losses.

:29:16. > :29:19.We're going to allow firms to use losses more flexibly in a way that

:29:20. > :29:22.will help over # 0,000 British companies -- 70,000 British

:29:23. > :29:25.companies, but with the new flexibilities in place we will do

:29:26. > :29:29.what other countries do and retrict the maximum amount of profits that

:29:30. > :29:34.can be off set using past losses to 50%. This will only apply to the

:29:35. > :29:40.less than 1% of firms making profits over ?5 million and the existing

:29:41. > :29:44.rules for historic losses in the banking sector will be tightened to

:29:45. > :29:48.25%. We will maintain our plans to align tax payment dates for the

:29:49. > :29:52.largest companies more closely when profits are earned, but we will give

:29:53. > :29:53.firms longer to adjust the changes which will come into effect in April

:29:54. > :30:00.2019. year. All of these reforms to

:30:01. > :30:04.corporation tax will reflect better the reality of the global economy.

:30:05. > :30:09.And together, they will raise ?9 billion in extra revenue for the

:30:10. > :30:12.Exchequer. That's our policy is not to raise taxes on business. Our

:30:13. > :30:18.policy is to lower taxes on business. So everything we collect

:30:19. > :30:22.from the largest firms who are trying to pay no tax will be used to

:30:23. > :30:27.help millions of firms who pay their fair share of tax. I can confirm

:30:28. > :30:32.today we are going to reduce the rate of corporation tax even

:30:33. > :30:35.further. That's the rate of Britain's profit-making companies,

:30:36. > :30:39.large and small, have to pay and all the evidence shows is one of the

:30:40. > :30:44.most distorted and unproductive taxes mirrors. Corporation tax was

:30:45. > :30:48.20% at the start of a last Parliament and we reduced it so it

:30:49. > :30:52.is 20% at the start of this one. Last summer I cut it to 18% in the

:30:53. > :30:58.coming years and today I'm going further. By April 2020, 17%. Britain

:30:59. > :31:05.is blazing a trail and let the rest of the world catch up. Cut in

:31:06. > :31:10.corporation tax is only part of our plan for the future. I also want to

:31:11. > :31:13.address the great unfairness that many small businessmen and women

:31:14. > :31:20.feel when they compete against companies on the Internet. EBay and

:31:21. > :31:23.Amazon have provided an incredible platform for many new small British

:31:24. > :31:27.start-ups to reach large numbers of customers but there's been a big

:31:28. > :31:33.rise in overseas suppliers storing goods in Britain and selling them

:31:34. > :31:36.online without paying VAT. It unfairly undercut British businesses

:31:37. > :31:40.on the Internet and on the high Street and today I can announce we

:31:41. > :31:46.are taking action to stop it. That's the first thing we will do to help

:31:47. > :31:50.small firms. Second, we will help the micro-entrepreneurs who sells

:31:51. > :31:55.services online, rent out their homes through the Internet, taxes

:31:56. > :31:59.should help these people so I'm helping to introduce two new

:32:00. > :32:04.tax-free allowances worth ?1000 a year and for trading and property

:32:05. > :32:08.income, no forms to fill in, no tax to pay, but tax break for the

:32:09. > :32:11.digital age and at least half a million people will benefit. On top

:32:12. > :32:16.of these measures comes the biggest tax cut for business in this Budget.

:32:17. > :32:21.Business rates are the fixed costs that way down on many small

:32:22. > :32:24.enterprises and at present small business rate relief is only

:32:25. > :32:29.permanent available to firms at a value of less than ?6,000 and in the

:32:30. > :32:33.past I'd been able to double it for one year only but today I'm more

:32:34. > :32:39.than doubling its and more than doubling its permanently. The new

:32:40. > :32:45.threshold for small business rate relief will raise from ?6,000 to a

:32:46. > :32:50.maximum threshold of ?15,000 and I'm also going to raise the threshold

:32:51. > :32:56.for the high rates from ?18,000 to ?51,000. Let me explain what this

:32:57. > :33:03.means. From April next year, 600,000 small businesses will pay no

:33:04. > :33:08.business rates at all. That's an annual saving for them of up to

:33:09. > :33:13.nearly ?6,000 for ever. A further quarter of a million businesses will

:33:14. > :33:16.see their rates cut. In total, half of all British properties will see

:33:17. > :33:22.their business rates fall or be abolished altogether. And to support

:33:23. > :33:27.all ratepayers, including larger stores who face tough competition,

:33:28. > :33:32.and employs lemony people, we will simplify the administration business

:33:33. > :33:38.rates and from 2020, switch the rating from the higher RPI to a

:33:39. > :33:42.lower CPI, a permanent long-term savings for all businesses in

:33:43. > :33:45.Britain, a typical corner shop in Barnstable will pay no business

:33:46. > :33:49.rates, a typical hairdresser in Leeds will pay no business rates, a

:33:50. > :33:57.typical newsagent in Nuneaton will pay no business rates. This is a

:33:58. > :34:02.Budget which gets rid of loopholes for multinationals, and gets rid of

:34:03. > :34:06.tax for small businesses, a ?7 billion tax cut for the nation of

:34:07. > :34:11.shopkeepers, which says to the world we are open for business, this is a

:34:12. > :34:25.Conservative Government which is on your side. Mr Deputy Speaker just

:34:26. > :34:31.over a year ago I reformed residential stamp duty. We moved

:34:32. > :34:37.from a distorted slab system to a much simpler slice system and 98% of

:34:38. > :34:40.home-buyers are now paying the same or less and revenues from the

:34:41. > :34:43.expensive properties of rhythm. The IMF welcomed the changes and

:34:44. > :34:48.suggests we do the same to commercial property so that's what

:34:49. > :34:53.we're going to do and that helps our small firms. At the moment the small

:34:54. > :34:59.firm can pay just ?1 more for a property and face a tax bill three

:35:00. > :35:04.times as large. That makes no sense. From now on, commercial stamp duty

:35:05. > :35:11.will have a zero rate band on purchases up to ?150,000, a 2% rate

:35:12. > :35:15.on the next ?100,000 and 5% top rate above ?250,000 and there will also

:35:16. > :35:19.be a 2% rate for those high-value leases with a net present value

:35:20. > :35:28.above minimum pounds. This new regime comes into effect from

:35:29. > :35:34.midnight tonight. -- ?5 million. These reforms raise ?500 million a

:35:35. > :35:38.year. While 9% will pay more, over 90% will see their tax bills cut or

:35:39. > :35:45.stay the same. For example, if you buy a pub in the Midlands worth

:35:46. > :35:50.?270,000, you would today pay ?8,000 stamp duty. From tomorrow, you will

:35:51. > :35:58.pay just ?3000 stamp duty. It's a big tax cut for small firms, all in

:35:59. > :36:04.a Budget which backs small business. Businesses also want a simpler tax

:36:05. > :36:08.system. I've asked Angela at the office for tax and have occasion to

:36:09. > :36:11.look at what we can do to make the system work better for small firms

:36:12. > :36:15.and I'm funding a dramatic improvement in the service HMRC

:36:16. > :36:19.offers them. Many retailers have complained bitterly to me about the

:36:20. > :36:24.complexity of the Carbon reduction commitment. It's not a commitment

:36:25. > :36:27.but tax, so I can tell the House were not going to reform it but I

:36:28. > :36:32.decided to abolish it altogether. And to make good the lost revenue,

:36:33. > :36:36.the Climate Change Levy will rise from 2019, the most energy intensive

:36:37. > :36:38.industries like steel remain completely protected and I'm

:36:39. > :36:43.extending the climate change agreement would help many others.

:36:44. > :36:47.The energy secretary and I are announcing ?730 million a further

:36:48. > :36:51.auctions to back renewable technology and inviting bids to

:36:52. > :36:55.develop the next generation of small multi-reactors. We also going to

:36:56. > :37:00.help one of the most valued industries in the UK, which has been

:37:01. > :37:03.severely affected by global events. The oil and gas sector employs

:37:04. > :37:08.hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland and around our country. In

:37:09. > :37:11.my Budget year ago I made major reductions to their taxes but the

:37:12. > :37:16.oil price has continued to fall so we need to act now for long-term. I

:37:17. > :37:23.am today cutting in half the supplementary charge on oil and gas

:37:24. > :37:24.from 20% down to 10% and I'm effectively abolishing petroleum

:37:25. > :37:45.revenue tax, too. Backing these are Scottish jobs.

:37:46. > :37:52.Order. Mr Ellis. Just relax. More to come. The Chancellor of the

:37:53. > :37:56.Exchequer. Both of these major tax cuts will be backdated so they are

:37:57. > :38:04.effective from the 1st of January this year. We'll give the industry

:38:05. > :38:07.our full support. We are only able to provide this kind of support to

:38:08. > :38:23.our oil and gas industry because of the broad shoulders of the... None

:38:24. > :38:26.of this support would have been remotely affordable if, in just

:38:27. > :38:32.eight days' time, Scotland had broken away from the rest of the UK

:38:33. > :38:35.as the Nationalists wanted. Their own audit of Scotland's public

:38:36. > :38:39.finances confirms they would have struggled from the start is with a

:38:40. > :38:44.fiscal crisis under the burden of the highest Budget deficit in the

:38:45. > :38:46.Western world. Thankfully the Scottish people decided we are

:38:47. > :38:55.better together in one United Kingdom.

:38:56. > :39:03.Mr Deputy Speaker, believing in the UK is not the same in believing

:39:04. > :39:06.every decision should be taken in Westminster and Whitehall, that's

:39:07. > :39:11.the next step in this Budget plan to make Britain fit for the future. As

:39:12. > :39:13.Conservatives, we know if you want local communities to take

:39:14. > :39:17.responsibility for local growth, I have to be able to reap the rewards.

:39:18. > :39:22.This Government is delivering the most radical devolution of power in

:39:23. > :39:26.modern British history. We are devolving power to our nations, the

:39:27. > :39:31.Scottish Secretary and I have agreed the new fiscal framework with a

:39:32. > :39:36.Scottish Government and also opening negotiations on a city deal with

:39:37. > :39:42.Edinburgh, we back the new V Museum in Dundee, and in response to

:39:43. > :39:45.the powerful case made to me by Ruth Davidson, we are providing new

:39:46. > :39:54.community facilities for people and the Royal navy personnel in fast

:39:55. > :39:58.lane paid for by us. In Wales, we are committed to devolving new

:39:59. > :40:01.powers to the Assembly and yesterday the Welsh Secretary and the chief

:40:02. > :40:07.secretary signed a new billion pound deal for the Cardiff region, opening

:40:08. > :40:09.discussion on a city deal for Swansea and growth deal for North

:40:10. > :40:13.Wales Summit Bannock connected the Northern Powerhouse, I've listened

:40:14. > :40:17.to the case made by the Welsh Conservative colleagues and I can

:40:18. > :40:24.announce today that from 2019, we will half the price of the Severn

:40:25. > :40:27.Crossing. My right honourable friend, the Northern Ireland

:40:28. > :40:32.Secretary and I are working towards a devolution of corporation tax. I'm

:40:33. > :40:36.also extending enhanced capital allowances to the enterprise zone in

:40:37. > :40:40.Coleraine and we will use over ?4 million from libel funds to help

:40:41. > :40:46.establish the first air Ambulance Service in Northern Ireland. In this

:40:47. > :40:50.Budget we make major further advances in the devolution power

:40:51. > :40:54.within England, too. It is less than two years ago I called for the

:40:55. > :40:59.creation of strongly elected Mayors to build a Northern Powerhouse and

:41:00. > :41:02.since then, they have been agreed for Manchester, Liverpool, Tees

:41:03. > :41:06.Valley, Newcastle and Sheffield. Over half the population of the

:41:07. > :41:09.Northern Powerhouse will be able to elect a Mayor accountable to them

:41:10. > :41:13.next year and will have an elected Mayor for the West Midlands, too.

:41:14. > :41:17.These new arrangements involve and grow stronger and I can tell the

:41:18. > :41:22.House that my right honourable friend the Justice Secretary and I

:41:23. > :41:26.are transferring new powers over the criminal justice systems to Greater

:41:27. > :41:30.Manchester, the kind of progressive social policy that this Government

:41:31. > :41:34.is proud to pioneer. I can also announce to the House today that for

:41:35. > :41:37.the first time, we have reached agreement to establish new elected

:41:38. > :41:42.Mayors inning as counties in southern cities, too, and I want to

:41:43. > :41:47.thank the Communities Secretary and my Treasury colleague Jim O'Neill

:41:48. > :41:50.for their human efforts and we've agreed a powerful East Anglia

:41:51. > :41:55.combined authority heading up by an elected Mayor and ?1 billion of new

:41:56. > :42:00.investment and a new West of England may all authority and they will also

:42:01. > :42:03.see almost ?1 billion invested locally and the authorities of

:42:04. > :42:08.greater Lincolnshire will have new powers, new funding and a new Mayor.

:42:09. > :42:14.North, south, east, west, the Devolution Revolution is taking

:42:15. > :42:20.hold. When I became Chancellor, 80% of local Government funding came in

:42:21. > :42:25.largely ring fenced grants from Government, the illusion of local

:42:26. > :42:28.democracy but by the end of this Parliament, 100% of local Government

:42:29. > :42:33.resources will come from local Government, raised locally, spent

:42:34. > :42:40.locally, invested locally, at the great capital city wants to lead the

:42:41. > :42:44.way. The Mayor of London passionately argued for the

:42:45. > :42:47.devolution of business rates and I can confirm today that the Greater

:42:48. > :42:53.London authority will move towards full attention of its business rates

:42:54. > :42:57.from next April, three years earlier. Michael Heseltine has

:42:58. > :43:00.accepted our invitation to lead a Thames Estuary growth commission and

:43:01. > :43:07.will report to me with his ideas next year. In every international

:43:08. > :43:10.survey of our country, our failure for a generation to build new

:43:11. > :43:13.housing and transport has been identified as a major problem. In

:43:14. > :43:24.this Government, we are the builders and so today, we are setting out...

:43:25. > :43:26.We will speed up our planning system, zone housing developers and

:43:27. > :43:32.prepare the country for the arrival of five G technology. The Business

:43:33. > :43:36.Secretary will bring forward our innovation proposals and, because we

:43:37. > :43:41.make savings in day-to-day spending, we can accelerate capital investment

:43:42. > :43:45.and increase it as a share of GDP. All these things are country focused

:43:46. > :43:50.on its long-term future should be doing. Alan new stamp duty rates on

:43:51. > :43:54.additional properties will come into effect next month. I have listened

:43:55. > :44:00.to colleagues and the rates will apply to larger investors, too. We

:44:01. > :44:03.will use receipts to support community Housing trusts including

:44:04. > :44:10.?20 million to help young families onto the housing ladder in the

:44:11. > :44:16.south-west England, a brilliant idea and it is proof that when the

:44:17. > :44:25.south-west vote with their voice, it's a head loudly in Westminster.

:44:26. > :44:28.But it is heard loudly. And because under this Government we are not

:44:29. > :44:32.prepared to let people be left behind, I'm also announcing a major

:44:33. > :44:36.new package of support worth over 150 will in pounds, to support those

:44:37. > :44:42.who are homeless and produce rough sleeping. -- ?150 million. I

:44:43. > :44:47.established a new national in first article is on to advise us all on

:44:48. > :44:50.the big long-term decisions we need to boost our productivity and I'm

:44:51. > :44:54.sure everyone in the House will want to thank Andrew Adonis and his

:44:55. > :44:59.fellow commissioners for getting off to such a strong start. They've

:45:00. > :45:04.already produced three impressive reports and recommend much stronger

:45:05. > :45:08.links across northern England so we are giving the green light to High

:45:09. > :45:13.Speed three between Manchester and Leeds, providing new money to create

:45:14. > :45:14.a 4-lane lane M 62 and we will develop the case for a new tunnel

:45:15. > :45:28.road from Manchester Sheffield. High honourable friends have told us

:45:29. > :45:36.not to ne glate their areas. I said we would build the Northern

:45:37. > :45:40.powerhouse, we put in the roads and we are making the Northern

:45:41. > :45:44.powerhouse a reality and rebuilding our country. I'm also accepting the

:45:45. > :45:48.infrastructure commission's recommendations on energy and on

:45:49. > :45:53.London Transport. The Government that is delivering Crossrail one

:45:54. > :45:56.will now commission Crossrail 2. I know this commitment to Crossrail 2

:45:57. > :46:00.will be warmly welcomed by the Leader of the Opposition, the Right

:46:01. > :46:03.Honourable member for Islington. It could have been designed just for

:46:04. > :46:09.him because it is good for all those who live in North London and are

:46:10. > :46:14.heading south! Mr Deputy Speaker, across Britain,

:46:15. > :46:17.this Budget invests in infrastructure, from a more

:46:18. > :46:20.resilient train line in the south-west, to the crossings at

:46:21. > :46:26.Ipswich and Lowestoft in the east that we promised, we are making our

:46:27. > :46:30.country stronger. To respond to the increasing extreme weather events

:46:31. > :46:36.our country is facing, I am today proposing further substantial

:46:37. > :46:41.increases in flood defences. Now that would not be affordable within

:46:42. > :46:48.existing budgets. So I'm going to increase the standard rate of

:46:49. > :46:52.insurance premium tax by just 5.5% and commitment extra money we raise

:46:53. > :46:57.to flood defence spending of the that's a ?700 million boost to our

:46:58. > :47:01.resilience and flood defences. The urgent review already underway by

:47:02. > :47:04.the Environment Secretary and the Chancellor of the duchy will

:47:05. > :47:08.determine how the money is best spent, but we can get started now. I

:47:09. > :47:15.have had many representations from colleagues across the House so we

:47:16. > :47:18.are giving the go-ahead to the schemes for York, Leeds, Calder

:47:19. > :47:23.valley and Carlisle and across Cumbria. In this Budget we invest in

:47:24. > :47:27.our physical infrastructure and we invest in our cultural

:47:28. > :47:31.infrastructure too. And I'm supporting specific projects from

:47:32. > :47:40.Cornwall in Truro to ?13 million for Hull to make a success of City of

:47:41. > :47:44.Culture. I'm extending the cathedral repairs fund. There is one thing

:47:45. > :47:53.that's clear, the Conservative Party is a broad church.

:47:54. > :48:00.And in 400th anniversary of the great playwright's death, I heard

:48:01. > :48:07.the sonnet and we commit to a new Shakespeare north site there on the

:48:08. > :48:22.site of the first indoor theatre outside our capital. It is Mr Deputy

:48:23. > :48:25.Speaker, we cut taxes for business and we dissolve power, the next plan

:48:26. > :48:30.is to improve the quality of our children's education. Now, providing

:48:31. > :48:33.great schooling is the single most important thing we can do to help

:48:34. > :48:37.any child from the disadvantaged background succeed. It is also the

:48:38. > :48:41.single most important thing we can do to boost the long-term

:48:42. > :48:44.productivity of our economy. Because our nation's productivity is no

:48:45. > :48:49.more, no less than the combined talents and efforts of the people of

:48:50. > :48:52.these islands. And that is why educational reform has been central

:48:53. > :48:56.to our mission since we came to office five years ago. Today, we

:48:57. > :49:02.take these further steps. First, I can announce that we're going to

:49:03. > :49:05.complete the task of setting schools free from local education

:49:06. > :49:10.bureaucracy and we are going to do it in this pamplt. I am providing --

:49:11. > :49:15.Parliament. I am providing extra funding so by 2020 every primary and

:49:16. > :49:19.secondary school will be in the process of becoming an academy.

:49:20. > :49:23.Second, we're going to focus on the performance of schools in the north,

:49:24. > :49:26.where results have not been as strong as we'd like, London's school

:49:27. > :49:32.system has been turned around, we can do the same in the Northern

:49:33. > :49:35.powerhouse. And I've asked the outstanding Bradford head teacher

:49:36. > :49:40.Sir Nick Weller to provide us with a plan. Third, we are going to look at

:49:41. > :49:51.teaching maths to 18 for all pupils. And fourth, we're going to introduce

:49:52. > :49:57.a fair national funding formula. I am today committing ?0.5 billion

:49:58. > :50:01.to speed up its introduction. We will consult and our objective is to

:50:02. > :50:06.get over 90% of the schools that will benefit on to the new formula

:50:07. > :50:10.by the end of this Parliament. The Conservative Government delivering

:50:11. > :50:14.on its promise of fair funding funding for our schools. Tomorrow,

:50:15. > :50:19.the Education Secretary will publish a white paper setting out further

:50:20. > :50:27.improvements we'll make to the quality of education because we will

:50:28. > :50:31.put the next generation first. Mr Deputy Speaker, doing the right

:50:32. > :50:35.thing for the next generation is what this Government and this Budget

:50:36. > :50:40.is about. No matter how difficult and how controversial it is. Mr

:50:41. > :50:44.Deputy Speaker you cannot have a long-term plan for the country

:50:45. > :50:50.unless you have a long-term plan for our children's healthcare. And here

:50:51. > :50:53.are the facts that we know. Five-year-old children are consuming

:50:54. > :50:59.their body weight in sugar every year. Experts predict that within a

:51:00. > :51:04.generation, over half of all boys and 70% of girls could be overweight

:51:05. > :51:09.or obese. Here is another fact, that we all know, obesity drives disease.

:51:10. > :51:13.It increases the risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease and it

:51:14. > :51:18.costs our economy ?27 billion a year. That's more than half the

:51:19. > :51:23.entire NHS pay bill and here is another truth, we all know, one of

:51:24. > :51:28.the biggest contributors to childhood obesity is sugary drinks.

:51:29. > :51:32.A can of cola has nine teaspoons of sugar in it. Some popular drinks

:51:33. > :51:36.have as many as 13. That can be more than double a child's recommended

:51:37. > :51:40.added sugar intake. Now, let me give credit where credit is due, many in

:51:41. > :51:46.the soft drinks industry recognise there is a problem and have started

:51:47. > :51:51.to reform late their products. Robinson's removed added sugar from

:51:52. > :51:56.many many of cordials and squashes, Brees and the Co-op have committed

:51:57. > :52:00.to reduce sugar across their ranges. So industry can act and with the

:52:01. > :52:04.right incentives I'm sure it will. Mr Deputy Speaker, I'm not prepared

:52:05. > :52:08.to look back at my time here in this Parliament doing this job and say to

:52:09. > :52:12.my children's generation, I'm sorry, we knew there was a problem with

:52:13. > :52:16.sugary drinks, we knew it caused disease, but we ducked the difficult

:52:17. > :52:22.decisions and we did nothing. So today, I can announce that we will

:52:23. > :52:26.introduce a shoe new gar levy on the soft drinks industry and let me

:52:27. > :52:30.explain how it will work. It will be levied on the companies, it will be

:52:31. > :52:35.introduced in two years time, to give companies plenty of space to

:52:36. > :52:39.change their product mix. It will be assessed on the volume of the sugar

:52:40. > :52:49.sweetened drinks they produce or import. There will be two bands, one

:52:50. > :52:52.for total sugar content above five grams above 100 millilitres, pure

:52:53. > :52:56.fruit juices and milk based drinks will be excluded and we will ensure

:52:57. > :53:01.the smallest producer are kept out of scope. We will, of course,

:53:02. > :53:03.consult on implementation, we are introducing the lef yr on the

:53:04. > :53:08.industry which means they can reduce the sugar content of their products

:53:09. > :53:14.as many already do, it means they can promote low sugar or no sugar

:53:15. > :53:17.brands as many already are. They can talk these steps to help with

:53:18. > :53:21.children's health. Of course, some may choose to pace the price on to

:53:22. > :53:25.consumers and that will be their decision and this would have an

:53:26. > :53:28.impact on consumption too. We are as Conservatives understand that tax

:53:29. > :53:33.affects behaviour. So let's tax the things we want to reduce, not the

:53:34. > :53:39.things we want to encourage. The OBR estimate that this levy will raise

:53:40. > :53:43.?520 million and this is tied directly to the second thing we're

:53:44. > :53:46.going to do today to help children's health and well-being. We are going

:53:47. > :53:50.to use the money from this new levy to double the amount of funding we

:53:51. > :53:55.dedicate to sport in every primary school. And for secondary schools,

:53:56. > :53:59.we're going to fund longer school days for those who want to offer

:54:00. > :54:03.their pupils a wider range of activities including extra sport. It

:54:04. > :54:05.will be voluntary for schools, come approximateliry for the pupils,

:54:06. > :54:08.there will be be enough resources for a quarter of secondary schools

:54:09. > :54:14.to take part, but that's just the start. The devolved administrations

:54:15. > :54:16.will receive equivalent funding through the Barnett Formula and I

:54:17. > :54:21.hope they spend it on the next generation too. I'm using the LIBOR

:54:22. > :54:25.funds to help with Children's Hospital services. Members across

:54:26. > :54:29.the House have asked for resources for children's care in Manchester,

:54:30. > :54:33.Sheffield, Birmingham and Southampton and we provide those

:54:34. > :54:38.funds today. Mr Deputy Speaker, a determination to improve the health

:54:39. > :54:42.of our children, a new levy on excessive sugar in soft drinks, the

:54:43. > :54:46.money used to double sport in our schools, a Britain fit for the

:54:47. > :54:53.future, a Government not afraid to put the next generation first.

:54:54. > :54:58.Mr Deputy Speaker, let me now turn to indirect taxes. Last autumn, I

:54:59. > :55:01.said that we would use all the VAT we collect from sanitary products to

:55:02. > :55:06.support women's charities and I want to thank the many members here on

:55:07. > :55:10.all sides in all parties for the impressive proposals they have put

:55:11. > :55:14.forward. Today we advocate ?12 million from the tampon tax to these

:55:15. > :55:19.charities across the UK from Breast Cancer Care to the white ribbon

:55:20. > :55:24.campaign and many other causes and we will make substantial donations

:55:25. > :55:29.to the Rosa fund so we reach many more grass-roots causes. I now turn

:55:30. > :55:33.to excise duties. When we took office we inherited plans that would

:55:34. > :55:39.have seen fuel duty rise above inflation every year and cost

:55:40. > :55:42.motorists 18 pence extra a litre. We wholeheartedly rejected the those

:55:43. > :55:46.plans and we took action to help working people. We froze fuel duty

:55:47. > :55:50.throughout the last Parliament, a tax cut worth nearly ?7 billion a

:55:51. > :55:55.year. In the last 12 months, petrol prices have plummeted. That is why

:55:56. > :56:01.we pencilled in an inflation rise. But I know the fuel costs still make

:56:02. > :56:06.up a significant part of household Budgets and weigh heavily on small

:56:07. > :56:10.firms. Families pay the cost when oil prices rocketed and they

:56:11. > :56:20.shouldn't be penalised when oil prices fall. Fuel duty will be

:56:21. > :56:25.frozen for the sixth year in a row. That's a saving of ?75 a year to the

:56:26. > :56:29.average driver, ?270 a year to the small business with a van, it is the

:56:30. > :56:34.tax boost that keeps Britain on the move.

:56:35. > :56:39.Mr Deputy Speaker, tobacco duty will continue to rise as set out in

:56:40. > :56:44.previous Budgets by 2% above inflation from 6pm tonight. Hand

:56:45. > :56:49.rolling tobacco will rise by an additional 3%. To continue our drive

:56:50. > :56:55.to improve public health, we reform our tobacco regime to introduce a

:56:56. > :56:59.floor on the price of cigarettes. Mr Deputy Speaker, I have always been

:57:00. > :57:04.clear that I want to support responsible drinkers in our nation's

:57:05. > :57:09.pubs. Five years ago, we inherited tax plans that would have ruined

:57:10. > :57:12.that industry. The action we took in the last Parliament on beer duty,

:57:13. > :57:23.saved hundreds of pubs and thousands of jobs. Today, I am freezing beer

:57:24. > :57:27.duty and cider duty too. Scotch whisky accounts for a fifth of all

:57:28. > :57:31.of the UK's food and drinks export. We back Scotland and back their

:57:32. > :57:35.vital industry too with a freeze on spirits duty. All other alcohol

:57:36. > :57:40.duties will rise by inflation as planned. Mr Deputy Speaker, there

:57:41. > :57:43.are some final measures we need to take to boost enterprise and back

:57:44. > :57:46.the next generation and help working people keep more of the money they

:57:47. > :57:51.earn. All of these have been themes of this Budget. Let me start with

:57:52. > :57:54.enterprise. Now we Conservatives know that when it comes to growing

:57:55. > :58:02.the economy, alongside good infrastructure and great education,

:58:03. > :58:05.we need to light the fires of enenterprise, to help the

:58:06. > :58:10.self-employed, I'm going to fulfil the manifesto commitment we made and

:58:11. > :58:13.from 2018, abolish class two national insurance contributions

:58:14. > :58:17.altogether. That's a simpler tax system, a tax cut of over ?130 for

:58:18. > :58:23.each of Britain's three million strong army of the self-employed.

:58:24. > :58:30.Next, we want to help people to invest in our business and help them

:58:31. > :58:35.create jobs. The best way to do do that is let them keep more of the

:58:36. > :58:39.rewards. Our capital gains is one of the highest in the developed world.

:58:40. > :58:45.The headline rate of Capital Gains Tax stands at 28%. Today, I'm

:58:46. > :58:51.cutting it to 20% and I'm cutting the Capital Gains Tax paid by basic

:58:52. > :58:54.rate taxpayers from 18% to 10%. The rates will come intotected in three

:58:55. > :58:58.weeks time. The old rates will be kept in place for gains on

:58:59. > :59:03.residential property and carried interest and I'm introduced a

:59:04. > :59:07.brand-new 10% rate on long-term external investment in listed

:59:08. > :59:11.companies up to a separate maximum ?10 million of lifetime gains. In

:59:12. > :59:13.this Budget, we are putting rocket boosters on the backs of enterprise

:59:14. > :59:21.and productive investment. In this Budget I also want to help

:59:22. > :59:25.the next generation builds up assets and safe. The fundamental problem is

:59:26. > :59:30.that far too many young people in their 20s and 30s have no pension

:59:31. > :59:34.and few savings. Ask them and they will tell you it's because they find

:59:35. > :59:39.pensions too complicated and inflexible, and most young people

:59:40. > :59:44.face an agonising choice of either saving to buy a home or for their

:59:45. > :59:48.retirement. We can help by providing people with more information about

:59:49. > :59:54.the multiple passions many have and more tax relief on financial advice.

:59:55. > :00:00.-- pensions. We can also help those on the lowest incomes. Our help to

:00:01. > :00:04.save Palm is announced on Monday. In the past year with consulted whether

:00:05. > :00:10.we should make changes to the pension tax system. It was clear

:00:11. > :00:14.there was no consensus. The former pensions Minister, Steve Webb, so I

:00:15. > :00:18.was trying to abolish the lump sum. Instead, we'll keep it and abolish

:00:19. > :00:36.the Liberal Democrat. LAUGHTER

:00:37. > :00:45.And tend to do is say it left take effect from midnight tonight. But I

:00:46. > :00:47.am tempted to say. My pension reforms have always been about

:00:48. > :00:51.giving people... LAUGHTER

:00:52. > :01:09.Order. Order. I know pension reforms have been about

:01:10. > :01:13.giving people more freedom and choice are faced with the truth, but

:01:14. > :01:18.young people are not saving enough I'm providing a different answer to

:01:19. > :01:21.the same problem. We know people like I says because they are simple.

:01:22. > :01:27.Everything you earn in your savings is tax-free when you withdraw it.

:01:28. > :01:35.From April next year I will increase the ice limit from just over ?15,000

:01:36. > :01:39.to ?20,000 a year for everyone. For those under 40, many of whom have

:01:40. > :01:43.not had such a good deal from the pension system, I'm introducing a

:01:44. > :01:50.completely new flexible way for the next generation to save called the

:01:51. > :01:55.lifetime ISA. Young people can put money on, get a Government bonus and

:01:56. > :01:59.either by their first home or save for their retirement. From April

:02:00. > :02:06.2017, anyone under the age of 40 will be able to open a lifetime ISA

:02:07. > :02:12.and save up to ?4000 each year and for every ?4 you save, the

:02:13. > :02:16.Government would give you ?1. Put in ?4000, and the Government will give

:02:17. > :02:20.you ?1000 every year until you 50. You don't have to choose between

:02:21. > :02:25.saving for first home or your retirement. With your new ISA, the

:02:26. > :02:30.Government gives you money to do both. For the basic taxpayer that's

:02:31. > :02:35.the equivalent of tax-free savings until pension and unlike a pension,

:02:36. > :02:39.you won't pay tax when you come to take the money out in retirement.

:02:40. > :02:44.For the self-employed, it's the kind of support they simply cannot get

:02:45. > :02:48.from the pension system today. Unlike a pension, you can access

:02:49. > :02:53.your money any time without the bonus and with a small charge and we

:02:54. > :02:56.will consult with the industry on whether, like the American 401(k),

:02:57. > :03:01.you can return the money to the account to reclaim the bonus so it's

:03:02. > :03:10.both generous and completely flexible. Those already taken out

:03:11. > :03:16.are enormously popular. Mr Deputy Speaker, a ?20,000 ISA limit for

:03:17. > :03:21.everyone, and you lifetime ISA, a Budget which puts the

:03:22. > :03:27.next-generation first. Mr Deputy Speaker, I turn to my final

:03:28. > :03:30.measures. This Government was elected to back working people. The

:03:31. > :03:34.best way to help them is to let them keep more of the money they earn.

:03:35. > :03:41.When I became Chancellor the tax-free personal allowance was less

:03:42. > :03:46.than ?6,500. In two weeks, it will be ?11,000. We committed it would

:03:47. > :03:51.reach ?12,500 by the end of this Parliament and today we take a major

:03:52. > :03:56.step towards that goal. From April next year, I am raising the tax free

:03:57. > :04:02.personal allowance to ?11,500 as a tax cut for 31 million people

:04:03. > :04:06.meaning a typical basic rate taxpayer will pay over ?1000 less

:04:07. > :04:11.income tax than when we came into Government five years again and it

:04:12. > :04:16.means another 1.3 million of the lowest paid taken out of tax

:04:17. > :04:25.altogether, social justice delivered by Conservative means. Mr Deputy

:04:26. > :04:29.Speaker, we made another commitment in our manifesto and that was to

:04:30. > :04:37.increase the threshold which people paid a higher rate of tax. That I

:04:38. > :04:43.shall stand at from April next year, I'm going to increase the high rate

:04:44. > :04:47.threshold to ?45,000. That's a tax cut of over ?400 a year, lifting

:04:48. > :04:51.over half a million people who should never been paying the higher

:04:52. > :04:56.rate out of that higher rates banned altogether. And it's the biggest

:04:57. > :05:04.above inflation cash increase since Nigel Lawson introduced the 40p rate

:05:05. > :05:10.over 30 years ago. Mr Deputy Speaker, a personal tax-free

:05:11. > :05:14.allowance of ?11,500, no one paying the 40p rate under ?45,000, we were

:05:15. > :05:19.elected the Government are working people and we have delivered a

:05:20. > :05:23.Budget for working people. Mr Deputy Speaker, five years ago we set out a

:05:24. > :05:27.long-term plan because we wanted to make sure Britain never regain was

:05:28. > :05:31.powerless in the face of global storms. We said then that we would

:05:32. > :05:37.do the hard work to take control of our destiny and put our own House in

:05:38. > :05:40.order. Five years later, the economy is stronger, the storm clouds are

:05:41. > :05:46.gathering again, our response to these new challenges are clear, we

:05:47. > :05:49.act now so we don't pay later. This is our Conservative Budget, one

:05:50. > :05:53.which reaches a surplus so the next generation doesn't that do pay our

:05:54. > :05:57.debts, one which reforms the tax system so the next generation

:05:58. > :06:01.inherits a strong economy, one which takes the imaginative steps as are

:06:02. > :06:07.the next generation is better educated, one which takes bold

:06:08. > :06:10.decisions so our children grow up fit and healthy, but this is a

:06:11. > :06:13.Budget which gets the investors investing, savers saving, businesses

:06:14. > :06:16.doing business so we built for working people a low tax,

:06:17. > :06:21.enterprising Britain, secure at home, strong in the world, I commend

:06:22. > :06:28.it to the how's a Budget which puts the next-generation first.

:06:29. > :06:33.STUDIO: George Osborne completing a Budget pack of all kinds of

:06:34. > :06:36.measures. Some rather ambitious targets, some people already saying

:06:37. > :06:41.rather unrealistic targets but certainly lots of action in lots of

:06:42. > :06:45.areas. The Deputy Speaker will call the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to

:06:46. > :06:50.respond. Let me quickly go through some of the main points and we will

:06:51. > :06:55.be back in the Commons straightaway. Main measures. A new sugar Levy

:06:56. > :07:01.announced on soft drinks to be introduced in 2018. The fuel duty

:07:02. > :07:04.has been frozen again. That got great cheers in the House of

:07:05. > :07:11.Commons. A tax-free personal allowance to rise to ?11,500, a

:07:12. > :07:17.higher rate threshold to ?45,000 in April 17, more main measures to

:07:18. > :07:20.come. Lots of interest in this new lifetime ISA, savings vehicle for

:07:21. > :07:26.the under 40s, Government boosting the savings by 25%. The ISA limit

:07:27. > :07:34.increasing to ?20,000 a year from next April. And the OBR forecasts, a

:07:35. > :07:37.sharp revision of some of the growth forecasts of the UK economy and

:07:38. > :07:41.certainly there were lots of rather glum faces around those figures.

:07:42. > :07:47.They have been revised downwards. What does that mean for this

:07:48. > :07:51.Government? Corporation tax, 17% by April 2020, so there's lots of tax

:07:52. > :07:55.adjustments as we go through. We will look at those in more detail,

:07:56. > :07:58.clearly, in a few minutes. I'm keeping my eyes on the House of

:07:59. > :08:02.Commons because we don't want to miss Jeremy Corbyn. Why do we go

:08:03. > :08:06.back to the chamber and see what's going on there because I think the

:08:07. > :08:11.Deputy Speaker is actually going through some of the financial

:08:12. > :08:15.measures. The House is still packed, of course and lots of interest in

:08:16. > :08:21.what kind of response Jeremy Corbyn will fashion. A few formal things to

:08:22. > :08:26.put through because of course, as you know, the Chancellor introduced

:08:27. > :08:29.some of these changes to take place within a few hours. Overnight. So

:08:30. > :08:33.therefore, the Speaker has got to put through some of these changes

:08:34. > :08:37.pretty quickly in terms of the business of the House and this is

:08:38. > :08:43.the moment of course when Mr Corbyn himself will be furiously preparing

:08:44. > :08:50.his notes. Let's join him. Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. The

:08:51. > :08:53.Budget the Chancellor has just delivered is actually the

:08:54. > :09:07.culmination of six years of his failures. It is a Budget... This is

:09:08. > :09:13.not some kind of Fairground attraction. We expect courtesy from

:09:14. > :09:15.both sides. I want to hear him and I know that the public that this

:09:16. > :09:22.country wants to hear what the opposition has got to say as well.

:09:23. > :09:28.Jeremy Corbyn. Mr Deputy Speaker, it's a recovery built on sand,

:09:29. > :09:33.failed on the Budget deficit, on debt, on investment, on

:09:34. > :09:39.productivity, on trade deficit, welfare cap, failed to tackle

:09:40. > :09:45.inequality in this country. And today, Mr Deputy Speaker, is

:09:46. > :09:49.announced growth is revised down last year, this year, every year

:09:50. > :09:55.forecast, business investment revised down, Government revised

:09:56. > :10:00.down, it is very good thing that the Chancellor is blaming the last

:10:01. > :10:07.Government. He was the Chancellor in the last Government. This Budget, Mr

:10:08. > :10:13.Deputy Speaker, has unfairness at its very core. Paid for by those who

:10:14. > :10:19.can't least afford it. He could not have made his priorities clearer.

:10:20. > :10:25.While half a million people with disabilities are losing over ?1

:10:26. > :10:28.billion in permanent personal independence payments, corporation

:10:29. > :10:36.tax has been cut and billions handed it in tax cuts to the very wealthy.

:10:37. > :10:44.The Chancellor has said to be judged on his record and by the tests he

:10:45. > :10:50.has set himself. Six years ago, he promised a balanced structural

:10:51. > :10:55.current Budget by 2015. It is now 2016, there is still no balanced

:10:56. > :11:00.Budget. In 2010, he and the Prime Minister claimed we are all in it

:11:01. > :11:06.together. The Chancellor promised his House that the richest would pay

:11:07. > :11:13.more than the poorest, not just in terms of cash, but as a proportion

:11:14. > :11:18.of income as well. Let me tell him how is that turned out. The

:11:19. > :11:22.Institute for Fiscal Studies, independent organisation, found

:11:23. > :11:28.that, and I quote, "The poorest have suffered the greatest proportionate

:11:29. > :11:33.losses". The Prime Minister told us recently he was delivering a strong

:11:34. > :11:40.economy and a sound plan. But strong for who? Strong to support who? When

:11:41. > :11:47.80% of the public spending cuts have fallen on women in society. This

:11:48. > :11:51.Budget could have been a chance to demonstrate a real commitment to

:11:52. > :11:57.fairness and equality. Yet again, the Chancellor has failed. Five

:11:58. > :12:01.years ago, and it was great words, he promised a Britain carried aloft

:12:02. > :12:07.by the march of the makers, soaring rhetoric. Mr Deputy Speaker, despite

:12:08. > :12:13.the resilience, ingenuity and hard work of manufacturers, the

:12:14. > :12:20.manufacturing sector was no smaller than it was eight years ago. Last

:12:21. > :12:24.year, he told the Conservative conference, we are the builders.

:12:25. > :12:29.But, ever since then, the construction industry has been

:12:30. > :12:32.stagnating. This is the record of a Conservative Chancellor who has

:12:33. > :12:36.failed to balance the books, failed to balance out the pain, failed to

:12:37. > :12:43.rebalance the economy. It is no wonder that his close friend, the

:12:44. > :12:51.Honourable member for Chingford and Wood Green, is complaining. We were

:12:52. > :12:55.told for the next seven years things were looking great. Within one month

:12:56. > :13:01.that forecast, we are now being things are different. The gulf

:13:02. > :13:04.between what the Conservative Government expects from the

:13:05. > :13:10.wealthiest and wanted the man's from ordinary British taxpayers could not

:13:11. > :13:16.be greater. The Mates rates deals for big corporations on tax deals is

:13:17. > :13:24.remembered for. This is a Chancellor remembered for. This is a Chancellor

:13:25. > :13:29.who has produced a Budget for hedge fund managers more than for small

:13:30. > :13:37.businesses. This, Mr Deputy Speaker, is a Government... I don't know what

:13:38. > :13:40.it is about you always want to catch my attention. Can I assure you, you

:13:41. > :13:47.got my attention lest not get the game. Leader of the Opposition.

:13:48. > :13:55.Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. This is a Government that stood by as the

:13:56. > :13:59.steel industry bled. Skills, output and thousands of very skilled jobs

:14:00. > :14:03.have been lost and communities ruined and damaged by the inaction

:14:04. > :14:10.of the Government. The Chancellor set himself a 1 trillion export

:14:11. > :14:14.target. It's going to be missed by a lot more than a country mile.

:14:15. > :14:18.Instead of trade fuelling growth as he promised, it is now holding back

:14:19. > :14:30.growth. He talked of the Northern Powerhouse. And we now discover that

:14:31. > :14:37.97% of the senior staff of the Northern Powerhouse have indeed been

:14:38. > :14:44.outsourced to London. To the south. And, for all his talk, of the

:14:45. > :14:51.Northern Powerhouse, the north-east accounts for less than 1% of

:14:52. > :14:57.Government infrastructure pipeline project in construction. For all his

:14:58. > :14:57.rhetoric, there has been a systematic underinvestment in the

:14:58. > :15:08.North. Mr Deputy Speaker across the country

:15:09. > :15:17.local authorities, councils, are facing massive problems. A 79% cut

:15:18. > :15:21.in their funding. Every library that's been closed, every elderly

:15:22. > :15:24.person left without proper care, every swimming pool with reduced

:15:25. > :15:29.opening hours or closed altogether, is a direct result of Government

:15:30. > :15:36.under funding our local authorities and councils.

:15:37. > :15:42.Far from providing over good quality employment, he is the Chancellor

:15:43. > :15:50.that's presided over under employment and insecurity.

:15:51. > :15:54.With nearly, with nearly... THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is some

:15:55. > :15:59.people that's testing my patience. So just think what your constituents

:16:00. > :16:02.are thinking out there as well. I want to hear the Leader of the

:16:03. > :16:08.Opposition. I expect you to hear the Leader of the Opposition. If you

:16:09. > :16:13.don't want to, I am sure the tearoom awaits. Thank you, Mr Deputy

:16:14. > :16:17.Speaker. Security comes from knowing where your income is and knowing

:16:18. > :16:22.where your job is. If you're one of those nearly, if you're one of those

:16:23. > :16:26.nearly one million people on a zero-hours contract, you don't know

:16:27. > :16:32.what you're income is, you don't have that security. We have the

:16:33. > :16:37.highest levels, Mr Deputy Speaker, of in work poverty on record. The

:16:38. > :16:42.largest number without security. They need regular wages, that can

:16:43. > :16:48.end poverty and can bring about real security in their lives. Logically,

:16:49. > :16:52.Mr Deputy Speaker, low paid jobs don't bring in the tax revenues that

:16:53. > :16:57.the Chancellor tells us he needs to balance his books. Household

:16:58. > :17:02.borrowing is once again been relied upon to drive growth. Risky,

:17:03. > :17:07.unsecured lending, is growing at its fastest rate for the last eight

:17:08. > :17:13.years and it is clearly not sustainable. The renewables industry

:17:14. > :17:18.is vital to the future of our economy, our planet, indeed, our

:17:19. > :17:21.whole existence. It has been targeted for cuts of the thousands

:17:22. > :17:26.of jobs lost in the solar panel production industry and the Prime

:17:27. > :17:31.Minister as we discussed earlier at Prime Minister's Questions, promised

:17:32. > :17:35.the greenest Government ever. Here again, ababject failure, science

:17:36. > :17:42.spending also down ?1 billion compared to 2010. Home ownership

:17:43. > :17:46.down under this Conservative Government, a whole generation

:17:47. > :17:53.locked out of any prospect of owning their own home and this is the

:17:54. > :17:58.chancellor, who believes that a starter home costing ?450,000 is

:17:59. > :18:04.affordable! It might be for some of his friends,

:18:05. > :18:08.it might be for some members opposite, it isn't for those people

:18:09. > :18:13.who are trying to save for a deposit because they can't get any other

:18:14. > :18:20.kind of house. We heard promises, Mr Deputy Speaker, before. Two years

:18:21. > :18:24.ago, the Chancellor pledged a garden city of 15,000 homes in Ebbsfleet

:18:25. > :18:30.and many cheered that. His ministers have been very busy ever since then.

:18:31. > :18:36.They've made 30 Ebbsfleet announcements and they have managed

:18:37. > :18:44.to build 368 homes in Ebbsfleet. It is 12 homes for every press release.

:18:45. > :18:48.We need obviously a vast increase in press releases in order to get any

:18:49. > :18:55.homes built in Ebbsfleet or indeed, anywhere else.

:18:56. > :19:02.And whilst we welcome the money that's going to be put forward to

:19:03. > :19:06.tackle homelessness, it is the product of under investment, under

:19:07. > :19:10.funding of local authorities, not building enough council housing, not

:19:11. > :19:17.regulating the private rented sector that has led to this crisis. We need

:19:18. > :19:21.to tackle the issue of homelessness by saying that everybody in our

:19:22. > :19:31.society deserves a safe roof over their head. Mr Deputy Speaker, child

:19:32. > :19:35.poverty is forecast to rise every year in this Parliament. What a

:19:36. > :19:40.damning indictment of this Government. And what a contrast to

:19:41. > :19:48.the last Labour Government that managed to lift almost one million

:19:49. > :19:55.children out of poverty. .81% of the tax increases and benefit cuts are

:19:56. > :20:01.falling on women and the 19% gender pay gap persists despite the protest

:20:02. > :20:05.tations of the chancellor, it is a serious indictment that women are

:20:06. > :20:10.generally paid less than men for doing broadly similar work. It will

:20:11. > :20:18.require a Labour Government to address this. And the Government's

:20:19. > :20:24.own social mobility commissioner said and I quote, "There is a

:20:25. > :20:28.growing sense that Britain's best days are behind us rather than ahead

:20:29. > :20:36.of us as the next generation expects to be worse off than the last." The

:20:37. > :20:40.Chancellor might have said a great deal about young people. He failed

:20:41. > :20:44.to say anything about the debt levels that so many former students

:20:45. > :20:49.have. The high rents that young people have to pay. The lower levels

:20:50. > :20:54.of wages that young people get. The sense of injustice and insecurity

:20:55. > :20:59.that so many young people in this country face and feel every day. It

:21:00. > :21:02.will again require a Labour Government to harness the

:21:03. > :21:10.enthusiasms and talent and energy of the young people of this country. Mr

:21:11. > :21:13.Deputy Speaker, investing in public services is vital to people's

:21:14. > :21:20.well-being. I think we're all agreed on that, at least I hope we are. Yet

:21:21. > :21:26.every time the Chancellor fails, he cuts services, cuts jobs, sells

:21:27. > :21:30.assets, further privatises. That was very clear when we were looking at

:21:31. > :21:37.the effects of the floods last year. Flood defences were cut by 27%.

:21:38. > :21:43.People's homes in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria, ruined because

:21:44. > :21:48.of his Government's neglect of river basin management, and the flood

:21:49. > :21:53.defences that are so necessary. Obviously we welcome any money that

:21:54. > :22:01.is now going into flood defences. But, but Mr Deputy Speaker, I hope

:22:02. > :22:05.that money will also be accompanied by reversing the cuts in the Fire

:22:06. > :22:10.Service which makes it so difficult for our brilliant firefighters to

:22:11. > :22:15.protect people in their homes. Reverse the cuts in the Environment

:22:16. > :22:20.Agency which makes it so hard for those brilliant engineers to protect

:22:21. > :22:23.our towns and cities and for Local Government workers who perform so

:22:24. > :22:29.brilliantly during the crisis of December and January in the areas

:22:30. > :22:34.that were flooded. Our education service, Mr Deputy Speaker, invests

:22:35. > :22:40.in people. It is a vital, motor for the wealth of this country in the

:22:41. > :22:46.future. So I ask why have we seen a 35% drop in the adult skills budget

:22:47. > :22:52.by this Government? People surely need the opportunity to learn. Not

:22:53. > :22:59.have to go into debt in order to develop skills from which we as a

:23:00. > :23:02.community entirely benefit. The Chancellor announced yesterday and

:23:03. > :23:06.there is not one shred of evidence to suggest that turning schools into

:23:07. > :23:12.academies boosts performance. There is nothing in the Budget that deals

:23:13. > :23:21.with the real issue which is teacher shortage, school place crisis or

:23:22. > :23:26.ballooning class sizes. He spoke at some length on the issue of

:23:27. > :23:30.ill-health amongst young children and the way in which sugar is

:23:31. > :23:34.consumed at such grotesque levels within our society and I agree with

:23:35. > :23:38.him about that. I welcome what he said. I'm sure he will join with me

:23:39. > :23:42.in welcoming the work done by many members of this House including my

:23:43. > :23:48.friend the member for Leicester East and his work and Jamie Oliver in his

:23:49. > :23:53.work in helping to deal with the dreadful situation of children's

:23:54. > :23:56.health. If we as a society cannot protect our children from high

:23:57. > :24:01.levels of sugar and all that goes with it, with the later crisis of

:24:02. > :24:05.health cancer and diabetes then as a House, we have failed the nation.

:24:06. > :24:09.The support his proposals on sugar as I hope all members of this House

:24:10. > :24:16.will. But there is an issue that faces the National Health Service.

:24:17. > :24:20.The deficit has widened to its highest level ever on record.

:24:21. > :24:25.Waiting times are up. The NHS is in a critical condition. Hospital after

:24:26. > :24:31.hospital, faces serious financial problems and is working out what to

:24:32. > :24:34.sell in order to balance its books. Our NHS should have those resources

:24:35. > :24:40.to concentrate on health needs of the people, not having to get rid of

:24:41. > :24:45.resources in order to survive. The Public Accounts Committee reported

:24:46. > :24:50.only yesterday that National Health Service finances have deteriorated

:24:51. > :24:54.at a severe and rapid pace. I didn't detect much in this Budget that is

:24:55. > :25:00.going to do much to resolve that crisis. He has also cut public

:25:01. > :25:06.health budgets, mental health budgets, and adult social care.

:25:07. > :25:13.Earlier this month, the Government forced through a ?30 per week cut to

:25:14. > :25:20.disabled ESA claimants... THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order. Order.

:25:21. > :25:24.The frontbench conversationings, if he need that conversation, there is

:25:25. > :25:30.plenty of room in the tearoom for you. Thank you very much, Mr Deputy

:25:31. > :25:36.Speaker. Last week we learned that 500,000 people will lose up to ?150

:25:37. > :25:45.per week due to cuts in personal independence payments. I simply ask

:25:46. > :25:50.the Chancellor this - if he can finance the giveaways that he put in

:25:51. > :25:54.his Budget to different sectors, why can't he fund the need for dignity

:25:55. > :26:00.for the disabled people of this country?

:26:01. > :26:07.Mr Deputy Speaker, the Chancellor said in the Autumn Statement that he

:26:08. > :26:12.had protected police budgets. Sir Andrew Dilnot confirms there has

:26:13. > :26:17.been a decrease in the police grant and 18,000 police officers have lost

:26:18. > :26:21.their jobs, fewer police on the streets, and as my friend the member

:26:22. > :26:27.for Brent South pointed out in her question to the Prime Minister, to

:26:28. > :26:31.cut down on dangerous crime, against vulnerable individuals, we need

:26:32. > :26:35.community policing and we need community police officers. 18,000

:26:36. > :26:39.losing their jobs doesn't help. This is a Government with failure on the

:26:40. > :26:44.police, failure on the National Health Service, failure on social

:26:45. > :26:48.care, housing and education. Public investment lays the foundations for

:26:49. > :26:55.future growth. The owe owe recognises that. The IMF, the G20.

:26:56. > :27:00.The Crib and the TUC are crying out for more infrastructure investment.

:27:01. > :27:06.It is Labour who will invest in the future in a high technology, high

:27:07. > :27:08.skill, high wage economy. The investment commitments the

:27:09. > :27:12.Chancellor made today, yes, of course, they are welcome, but

:27:13. > :27:16.they're belated and they are nowhere near the scale this country needs.

:27:17. > :27:23.People rightly fear this is just another press release on the road to

:27:24. > :27:26.non delivery of crucial projects. Chronic under investment presided

:27:27. > :27:30.over by this chancellor, both private and public, means that the

:27:31. > :27:38.productivity gap between Britain and the rest of the G7 is the widest it

:27:39. > :27:42.has been for a generation. Without productivity growth, revised down

:27:43. > :27:48.further today, we cannot hope to improve living standards. Our party,

:27:49. > :27:53.the Labour Party, backs a strategic state that understands businesses,

:27:54. > :27:59.public services, innovators and workers combined together to create

:28:00. > :28:03.wealth and drive sustainable growth. The Chancellor adopted a counter

:28:04. > :28:07.productive fiscal rule. The Treasury Select Committee's response to that,

:28:08. > :28:14.it was and I quote, "Not convinced that the surplus rule is credible."

:28:15. > :28:18.They're right. Mr Deputy Speaker, the Chancellor is locking Britain

:28:19. > :28:22.into an even deeper cycle of low investment, low productivity, and

:28:23. > :28:27.low ambition. We will be making the case for Britain to remain as a

:28:28. > :28:33.positive case within the European Union and all the solidarity that

:28:34. > :28:38.can bring. But Mr Deputy Speaker, over the past six years, the

:28:39. > :28:43.Chancellor has set targets on deficit, on debt, on productivity,

:28:44. > :28:48.on manufacturing, and construction, on exports. He has failed in all of

:28:49. > :28:52.them and is failing this country. There are huge opportunities for

:28:53. > :28:59.this country to build on the talent and efforts of everyone. But the

:29:00. > :29:02.Chancellor is more concerned about protecting vested interests. The

:29:03. > :29:07.price of failure is being borne by some of the most vulnerable within

:29:08. > :29:13.our society. The disabled being ropd robbed of ed to ?150 a week, these

:29:14. > :29:17.aren't the actions of a responsible states person or they are the

:29:18. > :29:20.actions of a cruel and callous Government that sides with the wrong

:29:21. > :29:26.people and punishes the most vulnerable and poorest within our

:29:27. > :29:32.society. He was defeated when he tried to cut, make tax credit cuts

:29:33. > :29:37.next month by this House opposing it and by Labour members and

:29:38. > :29:41.cross-benchers in the Lords, but Mr Deputy Speaker, the continuation of

:29:42. > :29:45.austerity, that he has confirmed today, particularly in the area of

:29:46. > :29:51.Local Government spending is a political choice, not an economic

:29:52. > :29:52.necessity. It locks us into a continued cycle of economic failure

:29:53. > :30:01.and personal misery. This party will not stand by while

:30:02. > :30:06.more poverty and inequality blight of this country. We will oppose

:30:07. > :30:12.these damaging choices. I make the case for an economy in which

:30:13. > :30:15.prosperity is shared by all. Let us harness the optimism, the

:30:16. > :30:24.enthusiasm, the hope, the energy of young people Tom not burden them

:30:25. > :30:30.with debts and unaffordable housing, low-wage jobs and zero hours

:30:31. > :30:33.contracts but instead, act in an intergenerational way to give young

:30:34. > :30:42.people the opportunities and the chances they want to build a better,

:30:43. > :30:47.freer, more recall, more content Britain than there Chancellor of the

:30:48. > :30:51.Exchequer has proved he is at a incapable of doing with his Budget

:30:52. > :30:57.today. STUDIO: So the Labour leader Jeremy

:30:58. > :31:02.Corbyn delivering his first response in the last 25 minutes or so to the

:31:03. > :31:05.Budget. Quite a lot of people emptying now from the chamber. It's

:31:06. > :31:09.a good time for us also to come out of the chamber. Let me remind you

:31:10. > :31:15.the debate will continue in the House of Commons, a long debate,

:31:16. > :31:19.lots of people wanting to take part, uninterrupted coverage on BBC

:31:20. > :31:25.Parliament. And now going to have a chance to take you through the

:31:26. > :31:29.Budget measures. I did use in headlines early on but now I'm going

:31:30. > :31:33.to take you through quite a few of the other measures we fail to

:31:34. > :31:36.mention Iliana. Let's start with a main measures, the tax changes, and

:31:37. > :31:44.the big headline, the new sugar levy on soft drinks and industry itself

:31:45. > :31:48.to be introduced in 2018. Lots of interest in that understandably.

:31:49. > :31:54.Lots of reaction to that. The tax-free personal allowance to rise

:31:55. > :32:06.to ?11,500 in 2017. The higher rate tax threshold to rise to ?45,000 and

:32:07. > :32:10.corporation tax, 17% by April 20 20. Some big tax changes. Let's look of

:32:11. > :32:13.pensions and savings because there were some very eye-catching

:32:14. > :32:18.initiatives. A lifetime ISA for the under 40s, lots of emphasis on the

:32:19. > :32:26.younger generation, the Government boosting the savings by 25%. The

:32:27. > :32:33.annual allowance right now by the way would be increased to ?20,000

:32:34. > :32:36.next April and there will be no change to tax relief on pension

:32:37. > :32:43.contributions. A lot of debate about that before this Budget. No changes

:32:44. > :32:47.to pension contributions. Duties, then. Fuel duty will be extended for

:32:48. > :32:56.another year which brought a very big round of applause. Beer and

:32:57. > :33:04.cider will be frozen again. And the duty on whiskey, spirits, also

:33:05. > :33:08.frozen. Glancing across the House to the Scottish National Party at that

:33:09. > :33:14.point, the Chancellor, and other alcohol duties including wine,

:33:15. > :33:21.rising by inflation. Let's look at some other tax changes. We went

:33:22. > :33:24.through quite a few details. National insurance contributions to

:33:25. > :33:31.be scrapped for self-employed workers. Helping small businesses,

:33:32. > :33:37.self-employed. Capital gains tax cut from 28-20%. 10% for basic rate

:33:38. > :33:41.taxpayers. Big changes in capital gains tax. There will be an increase

:33:42. > :33:48.in Insurance Premium Tax, going up by 0.5%. Now, on the forecast

:33:49. > :33:55.Roumat, a lot of interest in these simply because a few eyebrows were

:33:56. > :33:59.raised. The Office for Budget Responsibility advising the UK

:34:00. > :34:07.growth downwards, sharply down with some would say, public spending to

:34:08. > :34:13.be cut by 3.5 by 20 19-20, more spending cuts on the way. The

:34:14. > :34:20.inflation forecast by the OBR to be 0.7% this year, 1.6% next year, but

:34:21. > :34:28.again, underlining the basic target of 2% is still there. Borrowing.

:34:29. > :34:32.72.2 billion this year, falling to 55.5 point 5,000,000,020 16-17, but

:34:33. > :34:36.we need to talk about the targets are there in terms of borrowing and

:34:37. > :34:41.the deficit itself because I think that is one of the more

:34:42. > :34:46.controversial areas. Transport. Still going through today's Budget.

:34:47. > :34:50.The green light for the HSV railing, Manchester and Leeds, we talk about

:34:51. > :34:55.that in the past, but the go-ahead has been given. They will commission

:34:56. > :34:59.the Crossrail two, a big infrastructure project linking North

:35:00. > :35:07.and South London. Crossrail one, the Elizabeth line, opening relatively

:35:08. > :35:12.soon east to west London. From 2018, gosh, how many times have I driven

:35:13. > :35:17.down the M4 wondering when the tolls would be changed? The Severn Bridge,

:35:18. > :35:24.halved. Not gone altogether. Business. A new threshold for small

:35:25. > :35:33.business rate relief to rise from 6000-15,000. Business rates,

:35:34. > :35:37.switched from RPI down to the lower measure of inflation, CPI. Affecting

:35:38. > :35:43.levels of business rates there and commercial stamp duty rate reduced

:35:44. > :35:45.for lower value properties. Quite a few changes around business rates

:35:46. > :35:53.which we can discuss with Simon shortly. Let's look at a few other

:35:54. > :36:00.measures for you. Every school in England as we reported yesterday to

:36:01. > :36:05.become an academy. By 2020. No choice involved in that. The academy

:36:06. > :36:08.status they say will give more freedom to schools. New national

:36:09. > :36:13.funding for Miller for schools in England allied to that measure new

:36:14. > :36:16.powers, this is very big, significant, over criminal justice

:36:17. > :36:22.to be devolved to Greater Manchester. Big measures in terms of

:36:23. > :36:28.devolving to English regions. East and West England. Greater

:36:29. > :36:32.Manchester. The Greater London authority to retain its business

:36:33. > :36:40.rates from April 20 17. A significant financial measure. We

:36:41. > :36:46.have a few more to go. The supplementary tax on oil and gas,

:36:47. > :36:51.halved to 10%, very, very important news in Scotland, the heart of the

:36:52. > :36:57.oil and gas industry in the UK. A big piece of news for us to consider

:36:58. > :37:00.in the Scottish context. ?700 million additional funding for flood

:37:01. > :37:08.defences. Of course, lots of people debating that and wondering if it's

:37:09. > :37:11.welcome, but it would've been welcome two years ago. The new

:37:12. > :37:16.Shakespeare North Theatre, part a cultural rebuilding the Chancellor

:37:17. > :37:20.was talking about, not just infrastructure, in roads and bridges

:37:21. > :37:26.but culturally, Shakespeare North to be built in Knowsley. We've picked

:37:27. > :37:31.those out for you but I was a long list. We didn't get all of it on

:37:32. > :37:38.there. Lots for us to discuss. Apart from Simon and Laura, and Kamal

:37:39. > :37:43.Ahmed, we have had the red book, by the way, and we have permission to

:37:44. > :37:50.look through these figures, we're also joined by Rupert Harrison, used

:37:51. > :37:55.to be chief of staff to George Osborne and now works for Blackrock,

:37:56. > :38:01.the world's largest asset management company. Two perspectives from that

:38:02. > :38:06.part of the world but also from your great experience working closely

:38:07. > :38:10.with George Osborne. Welcome, I need to turn to Laura first and say,

:38:11. > :38:17.right, let's try and get through this. A deep breath. Before we had

:38:18. > :38:20.the Budget, there were one or two commentators saying there's not

:38:21. > :38:26.going to be much in this. It's going to be a bit boring. It wasn't. It

:38:27. > :38:30.certainly wasn't and George Osborne likes upending peoples expectations

:38:31. > :38:36.and I think the big thing that we saw is George Osborne again trying

:38:37. > :38:40.to have it both ways. He has built his reputation on his efforts to

:38:41. > :38:45.rebuild the economy, the Budget numbers tell us that job is far from

:38:46. > :38:48.over, chunky downgrades to growth, the country will be less well off

:38:49. > :38:52.than we thought the George Osborne said that won't stop him from one

:38:53. > :38:57.moment driving forward some big changes and political changes.

:38:58. > :39:01.Politics on every single page of this red book. Britain can hold its

:39:02. > :39:04.nerve despite the economic chadors around the world, you can apparently

:39:05. > :39:12.miraculously one year be nearly ?40 billion in the red and next year be

:39:13. > :39:17.10 billion quid in the black. Two hitters political surplus target and

:39:18. > :39:20.have big ideas. That tax on sugary drinks, the Government has been

:39:21. > :39:24.hesitating about it for months, Lo and behold, the Chancellor gets to

:39:25. > :39:29.announce it, interesting in itself. One minister said that was not a

:39:30. > :39:33.Budget for the next generation but for the man who wants to be the next

:39:34. > :39:36.Prime Minister and, at the same time, but having it both ways at the

:39:37. > :39:43.end of the Parliament, cutting spending, as well as cutting tax for

:39:44. > :39:49.millions of people. Speeding up the rate at which the income tax

:39:50. > :39:53.threshold will be raised. You can also use the Budget, something which

:39:54. > :40:00.were driven some Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers mad to send a political

:40:01. > :40:05.message using the independent Office for Budget Responsibility to talk

:40:06. > :40:11.about the risk of leaving the EU. Almost his first page. Could you

:40:12. > :40:17.address first of all this magic work on the figures. This business that

:40:18. > :40:21.Laura referred to. I have to say on social media, there's lots of talk

:40:22. > :40:26.about this. I'm going give a polite version. It says, he can't do it

:40:27. > :40:32.because this doesn't make sense. Do you say? He's basically said he's

:40:33. > :40:38.going to take a huge bridging loan to get the Government from today and

:40:39. > :40:42.the poor economic data we saw today, borrowing will increase over the

:40:43. > :40:49.next few years, and has bet on everything in 2020 firstly, it's the

:40:50. > :40:54.moment public spending cuts, he's not identified where they will be,

:40:55. > :40:59.he said how much he will save as usual, he's banked the money without

:41:00. > :41:03.saying where it comes from, ?3.5 billion, and also in 2020, the

:41:04. > :41:09.corporation tax changes, good for small businesses but big tax rises

:41:10. > :41:13.for big businesses, also kicking in. He says he wants to leave and

:41:14. > :41:16.businesses time to prepare the wealth they are preparing, those

:41:17. > :41:21.taxes will build up, a big payment will come in 2020, and he believes

:41:22. > :41:25.the OBR are saying, although they will borrow more, those two things

:41:26. > :41:30.happening in that final year will lead to this huge boost to the

:41:31. > :41:35.public finances and leave this surplus which he actually claims

:41:36. > :41:39.will be higher in 2020 than was forecast in what we thought with a

:41:40. > :41:42.more optimistic times of November. One other point to make is he

:41:43. > :41:46.believes the Government will also save a lot of money on debt interest

:41:47. > :41:50.payments because we are still in this very low interest rate world,

:41:51. > :41:54.the notion of interest rate rising has been pushed further into the

:41:55. > :41:57.future, another game for the Government. These basically

:41:58. > :42:03.collected all this money together and we'll stick it all on 2019-20,

:42:04. > :42:07.all coming back in, and giving him this huge boost into what will be a

:42:08. > :42:13.general election. It's not without risk, less put that way. Simon,

:42:14. > :42:20.what's put out for you in business? We talk tax and rates, but what for

:42:21. > :42:23.you was significant? He's raising ?9 billion from big business and

:42:24. > :42:26.spending ?7 billion on small business are taking from the big and

:42:27. > :42:30.giving to the small business and some of them have already welcome

:42:31. > :42:35.this. How will you do that? He will stop corporations having high debts,

:42:36. > :42:41.using their debt interest to bring their profits down, restrict that to

:42:42. > :42:45.30% of profits, also often when companies make big losses they can

:42:46. > :42:50.use the loss and bring it forward to shelter future profits into the

:42:51. > :43:00.future. 25% for banks doing that, 50% for other companies and also

:43:01. > :43:02.introducing a Starbucks tax, so when you send profits overseas,

:43:03. > :43:08.intellectual property, he will stop that happening, and also VAT

:43:09. > :43:14.clamp-down, he's going to use that money to spend on business rate

:43:15. > :43:17.cuts. This is the thing everyone is their biggest bugbear, business

:43:18. > :43:23.rates go up faster than people and the prices of goods and services can

:43:24. > :43:26.create and he said he's going to raise the small business tax relief

:43:27. > :43:30.and make it permanent slots a big boost to small business. Clearly an

:43:31. > :43:35.implication the Government will come onto that. Rupert, you are welcome.

:43:36. > :43:41.Give us your big thought on this Budget. What is this Budget doing in

:43:42. > :43:45.broad terms? You always have to look at the hand he's dealt and how he

:43:46. > :43:49.plays it. The big economic story is big downgrades to borrowing and

:43:50. > :43:53.importantly I think we should come back to this downgrades of

:43:54. > :43:55.productivity growth by the Office for Budget Responsibility in terms

:43:56. > :44:00.of the long-term implications for the country. But then, how has he

:44:01. > :44:05.responded to that? Essentially, is dumb money needed to do to keep the

:44:06. > :44:12.strategy on track, his most important tax is... Is that

:44:13. > :44:18.credible? There's genuine spending cuts in that spending year. The

:44:19. > :44:23.Treasury always has a number of ways up its sleeve for shifting money

:44:24. > :44:26.between years, which essentially is what this big corporation tax is

:44:27. > :44:29.doing, something he did in the Autumn Statement to bring money

:44:30. > :44:34.forward is now essentially being undone to push the money back. A bit

:44:35. > :44:37.of smoke and mirrors? The Treasury always have ways of doing these

:44:38. > :44:42.things. Big spending cuts is the meat of how he's achieving that.

:44:43. > :44:46.Interestingly, from the presentation of the Budget, he has come up with

:44:47. > :44:53.enough surprises that should probably I think push those economic

:44:54. > :44:58.boring stories of the front pages tomorrow, sugary drinks tax, and his

:44:59. > :45:02.come up with some big tax cuts which will be welcomed by people on his

:45:03. > :45:06.own side, personal tax cuts like the high rate threshold and personal

:45:07. > :45:10.allowance, capital gains tax, lifetime ISA, things his

:45:11. > :45:11.Conservative MPs will be you back to their constituencies and be happy

:45:12. > :45:19.about. Is it your view that when they were

:45:20. > :45:22.looking at this Budget and the likely impact of it, certainly in

:45:23. > :45:28.news terms, because let's be honest, that's part of the calculation, it

:45:29. > :45:32.is not all about economic management, that sugar initiative if

:45:33. > :45:35.I can put it like that, is it the assumption within the Treasury that

:45:36. > :45:41.would dominate people's talk following this Budget and that might

:45:42. > :45:47.be rather helpful? We probably all assume that in terms, of you know,

:45:48. > :45:50.the front pages. It is an interesting one there has been a lot

:45:51. > :45:55.of debate in the Government. Some of it noisy and public about whether to

:45:56. > :46:00.go ahead and do this. Is this is a measure that got support in the

:46:01. > :46:03.public health community. A lot of high-profile campaigners. A lot of

:46:04. > :46:06.people thinking the Government wasn't going to do, whether it was

:46:07. > :46:12.long planned or a late decision, we don't know. I did want to ask about

:46:13. > :46:15.the prominent passage on the referendum and looking ahead to

:46:16. > :46:19.that. Again, the thinking there, to make that such a very hard-line

:46:20. > :46:24.statement that he made despite the fact there will be plenty of people

:46:25. > :46:28.sitting behind him and on the frontbench with him, not happy about

:46:29. > :46:31.it? It would have been odd if he hadn't mentioned it. It is the most

:46:32. > :46:34.important thing facing the Government this year. I actually

:46:35. > :46:37.think it was interesting that he put it right at the front of the

:46:38. > :46:41.statement. He said what he to say and then left it and then where he

:46:42. > :46:46.ended which all the most important part of his speech. He ended on

:46:47. > :46:50.announcements that are going to hope, he is going to hope will make

:46:51. > :46:54.his own side particularly happy, particularly the tax cuts. We have

:46:55. > :47:01.just noticed that George Osborne as stechd in ?8 billion of spending

:47:02. > :47:06.cuts in the first year of the next Parliament, but I just think worth

:47:07. > :47:10.noting Rupert being candid, but maybe unusually unhelpful to his

:47:11. > :47:13.former boss by admitting how much the calculation is about what is

:47:14. > :47:17.going to create a splash the next day. They knew they were going to

:47:18. > :47:20.have grim economic news, but the sugar tax announcement is something

:47:21. > :47:25.the Government has been thinking about for ages to get away from the

:47:26. > :47:28.economic numbers and again, candid, about how the Treasury can move the

:47:29. > :47:33.numbers around to make things suit them. George Osborne was desperate

:47:34. > :47:36.to keep to the surplus target of ?10 billion, Rupert said the Treasury

:47:37. > :47:41.were able to do it by moving the numbers around. Businesses will be

:47:42. > :47:47.paying the money later than they thought. Indeed. It is a deferral of

:47:48. > :47:52.something he previously announced. He has missed that second of his

:47:53. > :47:58.fiscal rules which is debt declining as a proportion of national income.

:47:59. > :48:09.That's probably been on the cards since he announced he was not to go

:48:10. > :48:18.ahead with the sale of Lloydsful What been going on in the Treasury

:48:19. > :48:22.now? What is the process? Budget Day is normally characterised by my

:48:23. > :48:26.successors will be briefing the journalists about the details of the

:48:27. > :48:30.Budget. That can go on for a long time and the real issue, he will be

:48:31. > :48:34.looking for what other questions that are coming out from people like

:48:35. > :48:41.Laura and Kamal and Simon, what are the questions he is going to get

:48:42. > :48:49.tomorrow on the TV sofas and in the radio studios. A lot of his measures

:48:50. > :48:52.are clampling down on tax avoidance. How credible do you think that is?

:48:53. > :48:55.The Office for Budget Responsibility looked at previous announcements on

:48:56. > :49:00.cracking down on tax avoidance and while it is true some measures have

:49:01. > :49:03.not raised what was hoped, other measures ended up raising more than

:49:04. > :49:07.was hoped. They say on balance these things end up raising what was

:49:08. > :49:11.expected on average, even if the precise costings of individual

:49:12. > :49:15.measures sometimes are a bit off. The clock is against us, Rupert. It

:49:16. > :49:18.has been great to have you with us and thank you for agreeing to come

:49:19. > :49:24.in. Good to see you. We will let Rupert go and we will be joined by

:49:25. > :49:28.Matt Hancock in a second. We want more reaction from Jo, my colleague

:49:29. > :49:34.who is in Bolton with some guests there. Let's join Jo now.

:49:35. > :49:38.Yes, Huw, welcome back to the Market Place in Bolton. The Chancellor in

:49:39. > :49:41.his statement said that it was a boost for the Northern powerhouse.

:49:42. > :49:45.Well, let's speak to someone who should know and that's Tony Lloyd,

:49:46. > :49:49.the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester. Welcome. Thank you.

:49:50. > :49:52.Those infrastructure projects that were announced and lauded by George

:49:53. > :49:56.Osborne, will they power the north? Each one is welcome, but it is not

:49:57. > :50:00.enough. You know, the people in the north will recognise that when we're

:50:01. > :50:05.spending something like five times as much on the rail infrastructure

:50:06. > :50:10.in London and the South East, it is about us getting our fair share.

:50:11. > :50:14.Let's see the super connectivity that London rightly expects for the

:50:15. > :50:17.northern cities and then we will believe in the Northern powerhouse

:50:18. > :50:21.and this Government's commitment. We are not there yet. You would like

:50:22. > :50:27.more on infrastructure. What about devolution and this announcement on

:50:28. > :50:30.business rate relief? It will be devolved to local authorities, but

:50:31. > :50:34.that might also mean they will get less money in the future. What's

:50:35. > :50:38.your take? It is a clever chancellor and as always, you have got to read

:50:39. > :50:42.the fine print. We have been given a commitment in the early days there

:50:43. > :50:45.will would be no loss in Greater Manchester, what we want to know

:50:46. > :50:48.there is no loss as we move into the long-term future. Some of the

:50:49. > :50:51.poorest people in the poorest communities live in the north of

:50:52. > :50:55.England and particularly in Greater Manchester. What we can't have is

:50:56. > :50:58.the Government taking away the money that keeps our public services

:50:59. > :51:02.going. They're vital for people's way of life. So let's see the small

:51:03. > :51:05.print. People are bound to be sceptical until we know what the

:51:06. > :51:15.real answer is. What is your response to the ?3.5

:51:16. > :51:18.billion of extra cuts to public spending in 2019/2020? We are

:51:19. > :51:22.suffering from austerity exhaustion. We have seen our public services

:51:23. > :51:26.take a hit, whether it is policing or social care in our local

:51:27. > :51:30.councils. There comes a point when the public really doesn't understand

:51:31. > :51:32.the economic value of when they can see the damage it does to our

:51:33. > :51:36.communities. The Chancellor is going to have to look very long and hard

:51:37. > :51:39.at to whether this is sustainable, not economically, but socially

:51:40. > :51:43.sustainable. At the moment he has got a lot to do to convince people

:51:44. > :51:47.of that. Tony Lloyd, thank you very much. The Chancellor had a lot to

:51:48. > :51:53.say about pensions and savings. So let's talk to our personal finance

:51:54. > :51:59.expert, Ruth Alexander. Outline the key changes that were announced by

:52:00. > :52:03.the Chancellor? A viewer tweeted to say would there be anything for

:52:04. > :52:07.young people in the Budget. The Chancellor announced the lifetime

:52:08. > :52:12.ISA, you could save ?4,000 every year until you're 50 and the

:52:13. > :52:16.Government will put in ?1 for every 4 you save. There is help for people

:52:17. > :52:22.who are lower paid. People who are in work, but on in work benefits.

:52:23. > :52:26.They have got the help to save scheme and that could be worth ?1200

:52:27. > :52:30.from the Government over four years, Eric e-mailed to say, "What about

:52:31. > :52:35.pensioners? Could they benefit from this?" Well pensioners couldn't, but

:52:36. > :52:42.everyone will benefit from the fact that the ISA limit will be raised to

:52:43. > :52:47.?20,000 from around ?15,000 now. And in other money news, the amount you

:52:48. > :52:51.can earn before your tax is going to be raised to ?11,500 and the higher

:52:52. > :52:55.rate tax threshold will be raised to ?45,000 from April. The Chancellor

:52:56. > :52:58.says it will take 500,000 people out of the 40 pence tax band and then

:52:59. > :53:02.something that will have got a lot of people's attention, the fact that

:53:03. > :53:06.fuel duty has been frozen. And that's not just good news for

:53:07. > :53:09.drivers, but good news for shoppers because the goods in the shops

:53:10. > :53:15.around us, most of them will have been delivered by road. Just a

:53:16. > :53:20.reminder, you can e-mail us. Thank you very much. Let's get reaction

:53:21. > :53:24.from a local small business. We can talk to Tim Entwistle who runs a

:53:25. > :53:29.small manufacturing company here in the region, Move Tech UK. Was it a

:53:30. > :53:32.good Budget for small businesses? I think over recent months we have had

:53:33. > :53:36.a lot of uncertainty with the Scottish referendum, the general

:53:37. > :53:41.election, and now we've got the European election. I think what we

:53:42. > :53:44.needed was some stability and I think this election looked at the

:53:45. > :53:49.long-term and hopefully, deliver some stability for us to run our

:53:50. > :53:53.businesses and make the economy better. Are you optimistic for the

:53:54. > :53:57.future? More optimistic than you have been over the last couple of

:53:58. > :54:03.years? Yes, I think so. I think the economy will pick up and I'm

:54:04. > :54:07.optimistic. We have concerns over the wider macroeconomy, but... And

:54:08. > :54:10.the backdrop obviously that the Chancellor was talking about. What

:54:11. > :54:13.about some of the measures that have already been announced by George

:54:14. > :54:17.Osborne? Have businesses like yours managed to implement those? We are

:54:18. > :54:23.just seeing now the implementation of some of the previous policies

:54:24. > :54:28.like the enrolment on the pensions and the national Living Wage and the

:54:29. > :54:33.apprenticeships and that's all coming in now. So we're very pleased

:54:34. > :54:37.there doesn't seem to be any more major regulation coming in to

:54:38. > :54:41.further our administrative burdens. You have got enough on your plate?

:54:42. > :54:45.Absolutely. Timment whittle, thank you very much. With that, back to

:54:46. > :54:49.you Huw. Jo, thank you very much. We will be back with you in a short

:54:50. > :54:54.while. So, Rupert Harrison left and we are delighted to be joined by the

:54:55. > :54:58.Cabinet Office minister, Matt Hancock. We are going to start with

:54:59. > :55:02.sugar if we can. I am I have been digging around and it says last

:55:03. > :55:07.October, David Cameron ruled out a sugar tax, saying specifically there

:55:08. > :55:10.were more effective ways of tackling obesity. What changed is the

:55:11. > :55:15.question? Well, we haven assessing the evidence. The evidence has been

:55:16. > :55:19.pretty strong, quite overwhelming. Some of the figures that were used

:55:20. > :55:24.in the speech, the fact that the number of people, the number of

:55:25. > :55:31.children expected to be obese or overweight, half of boys and almost

:55:32. > :55:34.70% of girls are expected to be obese or overweight and clearly,

:55:35. > :55:38.this is a growing problem and there has been a lot of evidence that has

:55:39. > :55:42.been brought to light in the last six months.

:55:43. > :55:46.It is odd, isn't it that, the Prime Minister said it, there are more

:55:47. > :55:50.effective ways of tackling obesity which leads us to conclude this is

:55:51. > :55:55.about raising money? It maybe about that as much as it is about health?

:55:56. > :56:00.It raises money that can be spent on school sportment. The package is

:56:01. > :56:05.being about being pro-health and tackling this big problem. It could

:56:06. > :56:08.be a way of tackling obesity. It is seen as maybe the Prime Minister

:56:09. > :56:13.didn't get that right? Well, you assess the evidence all the time as

:56:14. > :56:16.you are in Government and different medical experts brought different

:56:17. > :56:21.evidence to us. And that's one of the reasons for instance, it is

:56:22. > :56:26.levied on water-based soft drinks, but not on milk based ones because

:56:27. > :56:30.the nutritional advice is that milk-based drinks even if they have

:56:31. > :56:33.got sugar has benefit, but the big picture is this, you have got to

:56:34. > :56:37.face up to the big challenges that the country faces on the economic

:56:38. > :56:41.front as we heard in the economic statistics, but then also on the

:56:42. > :56:45.health side and you know, if you're going to introduce a new tax to

:56:46. > :56:50.tackle a growing problem, then Budget Day is the day to do it. Very

:56:51. > :56:54.conveniently you point up some of the figures for us. We discussed

:56:55. > :56:59.this earlier, but I will put the same question to you, how do you

:57:00. > :57:04.move from a deficit of ?20 million to a surplus of ?10 billion the

:57:05. > :57:07.following year? It is all set out in the red book. That's why we have the

:57:08. > :57:10.red book. We're going to make efficiency savings which I have some

:57:11. > :57:15.responsibility for delivering to make sure that we keep a grip on

:57:16. > :57:19.public spending. There is also changes to corporation tax and the

:57:20. > :57:23.timing of the payments of corporation tax. There is, there is

:57:24. > :57:28.changes to make sure we keep the welfare bills down. It is set out in

:57:29. > :57:34.detail about how we get that, again, the big picture is this - we get

:57:35. > :57:41.that ?10 billion surplus that we have set out and reaching a surplus

:57:42. > :57:46.means we can live within our means as a country. The world economy is

:57:47. > :57:51.tougher no doubt than it was a year or so ago or six months ago. We have

:57:52. > :57:55.a goal of making sure that Britain is prepared to deal with it. As we

:57:56. > :57:59.were discussing earlier, Laura and Kamal, there is a bit of jigry

:58:00. > :58:02.pokery that goes on with the figures. Is there something about

:58:03. > :58:05.the way that the figures are reached that bothers you? It is about when

:58:06. > :58:10.you account for tax receipts and they are going to account for their

:58:11. > :58:13.tax receipts by moving them into that 2019/2020 figure. George

:58:14. > :58:18.Osborne said if his Budget the reason for that was to allow

:58:19. > :58:23.corporations time to prepare. Now, possibly he meant time to prepare

:58:24. > :58:28.for my leadership of the Conservative Party. Clearly, the

:58:29. > :58:32.Treasury has as Rupert Harrison said, the Treasury has a number of

:58:33. > :58:36.ways of ensuring that money comes in, in ways that can be helpful to

:58:37. > :58:41.the Government balance sheet. And if you look post the next election and

:58:42. > :58:46.the OBR is signalling beyond that, further cuts are going to be made,

:58:47. > :58:50.supposedly, but also that this surplus will keep going up. I think

:58:51. > :58:54.the big issue Mr Hancock for you is this notion of convincing the public

:58:55. > :58:58.that you're going to borrow much, much more money in the next three

:58:59. > :59:04.years and then suddenly be able to pay that off, with these corporation

:59:05. > :59:07.tax receipts and with a judgement on what your debt interest payments

:59:08. > :59:12.will be and on the efficiency savings which you haven't yet

:59:13. > :59:15.identified. Quite heroic assumptions you are making some may suggest and

:59:16. > :59:19.will the public be convinced by that?

:59:20. > :59:25.We reach a separate even without a change in the corporation tax

:59:26. > :59:29.receipts. We can park that. The surplus will still be reached. After

:59:30. > :59:36.that, we've made an assumption that public spending will continue to

:59:37. > :59:39.grow. That's of course for the next parliament but those assumptions are

:59:40. > :59:45.set out in the above, so what you do when you're trying to get a country

:59:46. > :59:50.out of the economic mess we're in is set a clear goal and then you work

:59:51. > :59:56.your to reaching that, so, in each of the cases, we have got the plan

:59:57. > :00:01.to deal with it. We mentioned the efficiency savings, we have already

:00:02. > :00:05.and efficiency programme to improve the way that we procure things and

:00:06. > :00:09.buy things in Government, to improve the way we use property and make

:00:10. > :00:15.savings from that, and we will put more into that programme. When will

:00:16. > :00:21.we actually know where those cuts are going to fall? Presumably on

:00:22. > :00:28.non-protected apartments? This needs to be done by 2019-20, so the idea

:00:29. > :00:32.the Government can't save no .5% spending in four years is for the

:00:33. > :00:39.birds. Of course it can. The key is this. We will set out the report in

:00:40. > :00:44.2018, two years to find the savings and then another 18 months to

:00:45. > :00:50.implement them. Business is all the time make savings much greater than

:00:51. > :00:56.that in terms of efficiency. This is no .5%. You were referring to

:00:57. > :00:59.Government efficiencies around ?3.5 billion in the last year of the

:01:00. > :01:04.parliament. If we look at the changes between now and the Autumn

:01:05. > :01:07.Statement, public spending is going to be more than ?30 billion lower

:01:08. > :01:11.than it was set out in the Autumn Statement. That is ten times more

:01:12. > :01:16.than efficiencies you're talking about so essentially, just be clear

:01:17. > :01:22.about this, the Chancellor has taken a political decision to head his

:01:23. > :01:26.circus track it -- surplus target, way more ahead of getting the books

:01:27. > :01:31.back into balance, and in order to do that is taking out more than ?30

:01:32. > :01:35.billion of cuts on top of what was already spelt out in November.

:01:36. > :01:40.That's what these numbers suggest. No, that's not quite right. The

:01:41. > :01:48.additional savings we will find is 3.5 billion. The inflation has

:01:49. > :01:54.fallen since the Autumn Statement and that's had an impact on some of

:01:55. > :01:57.the figures. The overall savings in the Autumn Statement were set out

:01:58. > :02:01.and the plan for that at that time, so the point is this. We have a

:02:02. > :02:06.clear goal, to get Britain back into the black. Quite rightly, we've

:02:07. > :02:12.taken an active choice to meet that same goal and it requires action and

:02:13. > :02:21.it set out in the book. Isn't this obsession with surplus in 1920, if

:02:22. > :02:27.they hang up and economic literacy suggests taking ?4 billion out of

:02:28. > :02:30.the economy at a time of economic growth is slowing and going to all

:02:31. > :02:38.sorts of lengths to miraculously hit the surplus in 1920s rather odd?

:02:39. > :02:43.There are economic literature which are incredibly logical but aren't

:02:44. > :02:48.exactly in the real world. Frankly, for the last five years I've sat in

:02:49. > :02:53.studios like this and had the case put, wouldn't it be easier just to

:02:54. > :02:56.slack up here a bit and relax here? Ultimately, if you're going to

:02:57. > :03:04.balance the books you have two set a goal and stick with it and... This

:03:05. > :03:09.one looks increasingly arbitrary. It is our click relevant button on the

:03:10. > :03:14.manifesto we get Britain into surplus, remove the deficit so we

:03:15. > :03:19.can get debts falling. Yes, it's an active decision. It's not an

:03:20. > :03:26.accident but choice. When you have big names in the city, lots of Earth

:03:27. > :03:33.has been predicated on giving confidence to the financial market,

:03:34. > :03:35.and they are saying, deficit is now manageable, their words not mine, it

:03:36. > :03:40.doesn't make sense to take more money out of spending. If the

:03:41. > :03:45.economy is slowing down, actually, you're precisely doing the wrong

:03:46. > :03:48.thing. You need to be giving stimulus, not taking money out.

:03:49. > :03:54.People used to say that and they said that in the mid-to thousands.

:03:55. > :03:58.The result was, when the crash came, we were the worst prepared economy

:03:59. > :04:02.and we ended up having one of the biggest Budget deficit in the world.

:04:03. > :04:08.I came into politics to promote economic stability for my family, my

:04:09. > :04:14.business and nearly gone bust because of the whole economy going

:04:15. > :04:19.wrong, nothing to do with my fault. That economic stability is hard-won

:04:20. > :04:23.and you can easily let go of it by saying, why do we just spend more

:04:24. > :04:28.here and be a bit more relaxed there? Instead, it's our job to have

:04:29. > :04:31.a clear goal and stick to it. I'm really sorry, but we've got lots to

:04:32. > :04:41.get through. Good to see you, thanks for coming in. To all of our viewers

:04:42. > :04:47.in Scotland, thanks for being with us. You are leaving us at this

:04:48. > :04:52.point. Thank you for joining us. In the meantime, more response from

:04:53. > :04:57.Jane on College Green outside Parliament.

:04:58. > :05:03.Welcome back to a blustery College Green but a very busy and a lot of

:05:04. > :05:11.politicians of all, colours are here. Let's get their reaction.

:05:12. > :05:16.Susan Kramer for the Lib Dems. And Nigel Farage, leader of the UK

:05:17. > :05:19.Independence Party. Baroness Kramer, you will know I'm sure that one of

:05:20. > :05:23.the biggest laughs was raised when he said were going to keep the lump

:05:24. > :05:27.sum and abolish the Liberal Democrats. Are you feeling like a

:05:28. > :05:33.party redundant? We are feeling like a very important party because we

:05:34. > :05:38.are leading the way on confidence and managing the Budget. You look at

:05:39. > :05:42.this particular Budget and he's missed his target and, as a

:05:43. > :05:48.consequence, there's all kinds of hidden cuts in public spending. He

:05:49. > :05:54.said 3.5 billion, mystery cuts, looking at schools, hospitals,

:05:55. > :05:57.saying you need to put aside another 2 billion to go into pensions.

:05:58. > :06:02.That's going to come off the front line. And a welcome cut in taxes for

:06:03. > :06:06.business but it looks like it's coming out of local Government, so

:06:07. > :06:11.your street cleaning, care for elderly people. It's not an

:06:12. > :06:14.effective way to manage Government. You are a former Transport Minister.

:06:15. > :06:19.You must like the infrastructure announcements. I had to look at the

:06:20. > :06:24.announcements and kept thinking, didn't I announce those about a year

:06:25. > :06:29.ago? It's all repeat stuff. We need to get down to doing it, not just

:06:30. > :06:35.constantly announcing it. Nigel Farage, some elements to be

:06:36. > :06:37.welcomed? Susan Kramer may feel she announced, but this investment. The

:06:38. > :06:43.Northern Powerhouse, building up the regions. Inventing a Mayor for East

:06:44. > :06:47.Anglian that no one is asked for. I hope they put that to a referendum

:06:48. > :06:53.first. To me, we can talk that tax cuts and say this is good and not

:06:54. > :06:58.good, but the big picture is growth will be 2% this year. Its forecast

:06:59. > :07:03.to stay at 2% for the next five years. When you analyse about half

:07:04. > :07:08.of it is because of mass immigration and publishing growth, more people,

:07:09. > :07:12.a bigger economy, the rest of it is fuelled by a massive sea of

:07:13. > :07:16.borrowing, personal borrowing and Government borrowing, you realise

:07:17. > :07:21.Britain is not doing very well at all. He compared us to the Eurozone.

:07:22. > :07:25.They are doing dreadfully. This Chancellor is massively increasing

:07:26. > :07:30.the national debt and we don't have proper growth. He said he's going to

:07:31. > :07:35.have a surplus. He said that in 2010. Since you became Chancellor,

:07:36. > :07:41.he's doubled the size of our national debt. The issue you

:07:42. > :07:44.mentioned, its investment in infrastructure, absolutely critical

:07:45. > :07:49.to get that underpinning a genuine growth. When somebody announces

:07:50. > :07:53.there's going to be another study, I really want to shake my head with

:07:54. > :07:59.despair. We need acceleration to get the money on the ground and I'm very

:08:00. > :08:02.comfortable if we borrow to do that, the capital stuff, because it's zero

:08:03. > :08:09.interest rates right now, incredibly cheap, we can get that moving, broad

:08:10. > :08:15.housing, transport, jute potential to drive the economy. I get that.

:08:16. > :08:19.For the long-term. Ala annual Budget deficit is worse than Greece. That's

:08:20. > :08:23.an honest appraisal of where we are. We are now in the seventh year this

:08:24. > :08:28.Chancellor. A big flourish at the end will talk about personal tax

:08:29. > :08:35.allowance and raising that. For a long time that was a big Lib Dem

:08:36. > :08:42.policy. Has he stolen your policies? We are delighted when people follow

:08:43. > :08:45.us and that's exactly right. On the other hand, he's going in there and

:08:46. > :08:50.cutting capital gains tax. What's the deal with that? Taxing wealth is

:08:51. > :08:56.what it's better to do than taxing people's income. I think he's

:08:57. > :09:07.heading in the wrong direction but I'm glad he's lifted the fresh

:09:08. > :09:11.rolls. -- thresholds. I'd love to see an increase in minimum wages.

:09:12. > :09:17.I'd like to ask both of you about what tomorrow will be the rabbit in

:09:18. > :09:24.that hat, attacks on sugary drinks. A massive problem with childhood

:09:25. > :09:27.obesity the country. It totally well commit. Congratulations to Jamie

:09:28. > :09:31.Oliver and the other campaign is up and down the country who have been

:09:32. > :09:35.fighting for that. It's really important, but it's a small piece,

:09:36. > :09:41.frankly, in a Budget with a lot of flaws and problems. I'm completely

:09:42. > :09:45.against it. I don't like the nanny state. I believe in education. The

:09:46. > :09:50.idea it'll go into school sports, budgets don't work like. Money goes

:09:51. > :09:54.in one part and comes at the other side. If the deals with a big health

:09:55. > :09:58.problem, a big health problem, growing problem, like... We tax

:09:59. > :10:07.alcohol and tobacco. Now we are attacked sink sugar. -- tax sugar.

:10:08. > :10:15.People go into the black market. 80% of hand tobacco is now bought the

:10:16. > :10:21.market. It helped Mexico. People are buying fewer sugary drinks. But

:10:22. > :10:27.there are still buying black-market booze and tobacco and even by class

:10:28. > :10:30.a drugs in Westminster. It won't work. The schools Budget, Wally

:10:31. > :10:36.didn't say is the Government is still cutting the amount of people,

:10:37. > :10:40.so at least there's some little trickle coming back into school

:10:41. > :10:44.Budget. As a consequence of the sugar tax and that's a good thing.

:10:45. > :10:48.It doesn't deal with the underlying problem, we have to put more into

:10:49. > :10:52.schools to keep up with the number of children coming in to school

:10:53. > :10:56.places, teachers, high-quality teachers, and I would be in favour

:10:57. > :11:01.of making sure teachers and other key public sector workers actually

:11:02. > :11:11.got a pay rise after carrying posterity for so many years. We must

:11:12. > :11:15.leave it there. Thank you very much. Jamie Oliver has recently turned up

:11:16. > :11:20.among the throng at Westminster. He really is a man in demand. Much more

:11:21. > :11:25.from here over the afternoon. Back to you.

:11:26. > :11:32.Thank you. He made talk to you, who knows? Thank you to your guests. We

:11:33. > :11:35.are joined now by Paul Johnson, one of our regular and cherished guests

:11:36. > :11:39.on Budget day come the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

:11:40. > :11:46.Lots of questions from viewers and Sullivan quite pointed. Overall, is

:11:47. > :11:53.this a tax cutting Budget? Neither if you look over 2019 come and take

:11:54. > :11:59.out the timing issues. There's some tax increases and tax cuts, but the

:12:00. > :12:04.bottom line, the tax decisions come to put too much zero by 20 19-20 and

:12:05. > :12:09.a bit of an increase in last year but essentially, not much. How

:12:10. > :12:13.significant are the downward revisions to the growth forecast?

:12:14. > :12:17.What difference do they make? A big difference. One of the reasons why

:12:18. > :12:23.the chancellors had to do a lot to move money around in order to meet

:12:24. > :12:27.its target in 19-20 because the growth estimates have gone down and

:12:28. > :12:31.they have gone down largely because the OBR has changed its view about

:12:32. > :12:35.productivity. A supplementary on that from one viewer who says, given

:12:36. > :12:39.that they've changed in a short space of time, why on earth do we

:12:40. > :12:45.pay so much attention to them? How credible are they? The best you can

:12:46. > :12:49.do at the moment. These things are always moving, I often give

:12:50. > :12:53.presentations that what's happening in the economy and I remind people

:12:54. > :12:56.we don't know what happened last year let alone what's going to

:12:57. > :13:00.happen in the future. The numbers are always been revised but they are

:13:01. > :13:04.the best we can get the moment. That's very helpful.

:13:05. > :13:09.LAUGHTER Another question which we discussed.

:13:10. > :13:13.You are ideally placed to give us light on this. This transition as

:13:14. > :13:23.some would have it, magical transition from big borrowing in

:13:24. > :13:29.18-19, down to 19-20, cannot happen? Is it credible and on what it based?

:13:30. > :13:35.There's one big change which is a timing change. The announcement last

:13:36. > :13:38.year he was going to change the timing of corporation tax receipts

:13:39. > :13:46.for big companies and he is now not going to do that in 2017-18, but

:13:47. > :13:48.19-20 and that means he's losing money in the earlier years balloted

:13:49. > :13:55.to the last Supper forecasts and gaining an awful lot in 19-20, a

:13:56. > :14:00.timing change. That seems entirely credible. There's no reason why he's

:14:01. > :14:06.done that, purely to flatter the numbers or I don't know. That's the

:14:07. > :14:12.biggest single thing. And then there's another change in timing,

:14:13. > :14:17.he's cutting investment spending in 19-20 but increasing it in the

:14:18. > :14:20.earlier years so he's changing the way things are timed and there are

:14:21. > :14:24.some real spending cuts in there as well which we don't know the details

:14:25. > :14:28.of parties announced some real spending cuts and some real stuff in

:14:29. > :14:32.there and from timing changes. If you go from big borrowing to a

:14:33. > :14:36.surplus, it seems to suggest the economy is suddenly in a much better

:14:37. > :14:39.place but what you're saying is this is just a matter of moving some

:14:40. > :14:43.money around. It's not because the economy is going to be in a better

:14:44. > :14:44.place but because of moving money around and imposing additional

:14:45. > :14:51.spending cuts. We didn't get to that point with our

:14:52. > :14:55.previous conversation for obvious reasons! But that's quite

:14:56. > :15:01.illuminating, isn't it? It is indeed. All these forecasts are

:15:02. > :15:05.based upon the Treasury taking receipts about certain times and

:15:06. > :15:12.about payments being made at certain times. Businesses don't pay taxes at

:15:13. > :15:16.the end of the month like we do, Paul Johnson's point about the tax

:15:17. > :15:20.changes from last year and the changes announced today will be a

:15:21. > :15:24.business tax rise of about ?2 billion as Simon pointed out

:15:25. > :15:28.earlier. ?7 billion advantage for smaller businesses, but ?9 billion

:15:29. > :15:36.tax take from larger business, that's a ?2 billion gain for the

:15:37. > :15:40.Government. That will be booked in 2019/2020 and this interest debt

:15:41. > :15:43.payment, if you look through the tables, they are booking quite a

:15:44. > :15:49.gain for the Government on the amount of money it will spend,

:15:50. > :15:53.paying for the debts it has. One interesting thing we didn't manage

:15:54. > :15:58.to ask Mr Hancock, the minister, they have got this budget surplus

:15:59. > :16:01.rule that they are saying we must adhere to, well they have forgotten

:16:02. > :16:05.they have missed another of their targets which is debt reducing as a

:16:06. > :16:14.proportion of national income. And that's significant? Well, it is not

:16:15. > :16:22.at all significant actually. LAUGHTER

:16:23. > :16:26.I meant politically Paul. Politically politically? We have

:16:27. > :16:29.seen this coming as I think Rupert said, we have seen this coming for a

:16:30. > :16:32.while, not meeting this rule. And actually, economically, it really

:16:33. > :16:41.doesn't matter very much at all. The one... Reputationly. Reputationly

:16:42. > :16:47.the one the Chancellor tied his colours to the mast on is the 1920

:16:48. > :16:54.rule and that clearly matters in and is significant. Not economically, it

:16:55. > :17:02.matters politically? Whether it is a 2 billion surplus or a 2 billion

:17:03. > :17:12.deficit to be aiming at a balance as opposed to a deficit does matter.

:17:13. > :17:16.What Paul reminded us how uncertain every spread sheet is and where the

:17:17. > :17:21.decimal point where, for George Osborne this was a rebuilding Budget

:17:22. > :17:25.because he was going to have to fess up the numbers on which he based his

:17:26. > :17:30.plans in November were wrong. No more sunshine on our dark clouds

:17:31. > :17:34.looming you cans but I think the big bold ideas on pensions, on the sugar

:17:35. > :17:38.tax, on business rates, on big changes to devolution are about

:17:39. > :17:42.something else, they are about his political journey and his hopes of

:17:43. > :17:47.rebuilding his reputation inside his own party which has taken a serious

:17:48. > :17:51.dent in the last six months or so. Because it is absolutely the case

:17:52. > :17:54.that he fancies his chances as becoming the next Prime Minister,

:17:55. > :17:57.the next leader of the Conservative Party, his friend and neighbour,

:17:58. > :18:00.right now, has put that on the table as an issue because David Cameron

:18:01. > :18:05.told us during the general election that he wouldn't do a full term. So

:18:06. > :18:09.wherever the actual numbers end up here? George Osborne has continually

:18:10. > :18:12.missed his targets. He hasn't been able to achieve his plans and the

:18:13. > :18:20.politics about rebuilding all of that are just as important.

:18:21. > :18:23.If the Chancellor knew back in November what he knows now, would he

:18:24. > :18:28.have done something different with his, I know you have been critical

:18:29. > :18:31.of this, this ?27 billion tax windfall, could he have avoided the

:18:32. > :18:36.situation he is in now if he spent that differently? Well, again, I

:18:37. > :18:42.mean, that ?27 billion is one of these numbers that is over a number

:18:43. > :18:47.of years, so it didn't make much difference to his 2019 target. Last

:18:48. > :18:51.year, he put taxes up by a lot, by ?10 billion and that's one, that's

:18:52. > :18:54.the main reason why he didn't have to make such big spending cuts in

:18:55. > :19:02.the autumn as we thought that he might have to do. What he is facing

:19:03. > :19:09.is a worse economic outlook and the really important thing underlying

:19:10. > :19:15.this is, much gloomier predictions about what is happening to

:19:16. > :19:19.productivity, it means less in the way of wage increases, as the famous

:19:20. > :19:23.saying goes, productivity isn't the only thing that matters, but in the

:19:24. > :19:27.long run, it is almost the only thing and so almost the only thing

:19:28. > :19:32.that matters has got in the OBR's opinion significantly worse going

:19:33. > :19:36.forward. A final thought on the prominence on the European appeal

:19:37. > :19:40.that the Chancellor made, using the OBR's own kind of information.

:19:41. > :19:44.Again, what was your thought there in terms of the certainty or the

:19:45. > :19:52.lack of certainty that people can apply to the scenarios of whether

:19:53. > :19:56.we're in or whether we're out? Well, all of these numbers are abased on

:19:57. > :20:05.the assumption that we stay in. What the Chancellor said was that the OBR

:20:06. > :20:09.would say if we vote to go out, uncertainty increases. If

:20:10. > :20:11.uncertainty increases then uncertainty about the numbers

:20:12. > :20:16.increases and that was what I heard him say and that seemed to me almost

:20:17. > :20:20.a statement of the obvious. Like a placing in the prominence right

:20:21. > :20:26.upfront and centre at the beginning of his speech spoke volumes and that

:20:27. > :20:31.would have made some people cross. This is from another viewer, this is

:20:32. > :20:34.his eighth Budget in six years and this is his 16th financial

:20:35. > :20:38.statement. There were two Budgets last year and a financial statement

:20:39. > :20:43.in the autumn. Does Paul think it is too many? Yes.

:20:44. > :20:48.LAUGHTER You will put us out of business! We

:20:49. > :20:52.are not allowed to say anything. I think every business lobby would

:20:53. > :20:55.agree with that. They like certainty and every chancellor has to do

:20:56. > :20:59.something every time they stand up and them having to adjust to that is

:21:00. > :21:05.a big burden on business. There is a problem the way we make tax an

:21:06. > :21:10.economic policy because it is done in secret and sprung on us twice a

:21:11. > :21:14.year, doesn't look like it is part of a planned strategy, yes, we have

:21:15. > :21:18.too many of these and we do them in the wrong way. Paul, thank you very

:21:19. > :21:20.much and we will let you get away to enjoy the red book!

:21:21. > :21:24.LAUGHTER Paul Johnson from the IFS. We are

:21:25. > :21:30.going straight to the Houses of Parliament because we are going to

:21:31. > :21:33.talk to Stewart Jose, the SNP's deputy lead leader. Stewart, thank

:21:34. > :21:37.you for joining us and thank you for waiting patiently. Are you in favour

:21:38. > :21:40.of a sugar levy? Yeah, I think that's a sensible initiative and

:21:41. > :21:45.there were a number of small modest initiatives in the Budget that we

:21:46. > :21:51.can all welcome, but at its heart, you know, I can't believe he is

:21:52. > :21:55.going to get away with this. The debt deficit borrowing numbers, the

:21:56. > :21:59.fiscal targets he set are so wrong. We have a position where the

:22:00. > :22:04.borrowing, which he promised for this year, won't be met for another

:22:05. > :22:07.four or five years. Quite an incredible tally of failure from

:22:08. > :22:12.George Osborne. When you say some modest measures,

:22:13. > :22:19.first of all, can we tackle the measures you put on North Sea Oil

:22:20. > :22:23.and gas which clearly have interest for Scottish voters? Very welcome.

:22:24. > :22:29.We called for the measures. I have also said there should have been

:22:30. > :22:32.more a more strategic focus on exploration and production

:22:33. > :22:35.allowances. In terms of the supplementary charges are there to

:22:36. > :22:39.be welcomed. The same with fuel duty and the same with whisky, measures

:22:40. > :22:43.like that are very sensible, it is the big picture, the big narrative

:22:44. > :22:52.and the big failure which was actually breathtaking today.

:22:53. > :22:55.When you look, as you say, you are alleging failure in those areas and

:22:56. > :22:58.we understand why you are making that case from your prospective, but

:22:59. > :23:02.the Scottish Government which is looking to gain more powers and to

:23:03. > :23:07.have morphisical responsibility, what then would it do in a dimp way?

:23:08. > :23:10.I'm thinking for example of tax thresholds would it adopt the ones

:23:11. > :23:16.that for example Mr Osborne has outlined today? Well, we have said

:23:17. > :23:19.the basic rate would go up. In terms of the 40 Pens threshold, we will

:23:20. > :23:26.have a look at what this means today. But I have to say, increasing

:23:27. > :23:30.the 40 pence threshold way above inflation at the same time as

:23:31. > :23:33.confirming billions of cuts from disabled people is probably not an

:23:34. > :23:38.approach that we would be wanting to take.

:23:39. > :23:42.That threshold, just to be clear, some viewers, just to recap, is

:23:43. > :23:45.going up to ?45,000, are you saying that an SNP Government wouldn't be

:23:46. > :23:50.too keen on that? Well, what we have said is we would look at the 40

:23:51. > :23:53.pence threshold, the threshold after the Budget this week and we have

:23:54. > :23:59.just had it. What I'm saying to you, and I couldn't be more clearer, to

:24:00. > :24:02.increase the 40 pence threshold way above inflation, while taking

:24:03. > :24:05.billions from disabled people doesn't seem fair, doesn't seem

:24:06. > :24:11.balanced and doesn't seem a very sensible thing to do That's an

:24:12. > :24:15.interesting point. You are criticising George Osborne for a

:24:16. > :24:19.breathtaking to use your words to hit his own targets of clearing the

:24:20. > :24:23.deficit and driving the debt down, yet at the same time, you're saying

:24:24. > :24:27.you would oppose the cut to disability payments, you have

:24:28. > :24:32.opposed all the way along, but you have opposed cuts he already made.

:24:33. > :24:36.You are trying to absolutely have it both ways, you can't criticise him

:24:37. > :24:41.for not getting the debt down and oppose every cut? I'm not trying to

:24:42. > :24:52.have it both ways. We have put forward a completely alternative

:24:53. > :24:55.model. A modest 0.5% in spending. It took a little longer, we were clear

:24:56. > :24:59.about that. We said to George Osborne however, he would fail his

:25:00. > :25:04.slash and burn approach to the economy, his austerity model, would

:25:05. > :25:13.fail. He said it wouldn't. And it has on debt, on deficit, on

:25:14. > :25:16.borrowing, on his trade and export commitment, there is no point George

:25:17. > :25:23.Osborne willing the ends of something and delivering means which

:25:24. > :25:26.are always going to fail. On the broader picture when you look

:25:27. > :25:30.at the direction of travel of the UK economy and of course, Scotland is a

:25:31. > :25:34.very important part of that, I'm just wondering what you would

:25:35. > :25:38.suggest in terms of the patterns of public spending that should change

:25:39. > :25:41.because clearly, we are in a corner if you look at figures and I'm

:25:42. > :25:46.wondering where you see the room for manoeuvre? Well, there are small

:25:47. > :25:49.things that one can do, that governments can do that make a

:25:50. > :25:52.difference. If we're serious about productivity, let's listen to the

:25:53. > :25:58.IMF when it comes to capital investment. If we're serious about

:25:59. > :26:01.innovation, let's look at the modest measures the Scottish Government

:26:02. > :26:04.have taken to support innovation, more inventions and more companies

:26:05. > :26:07.working directly with academia. If we are serious about these things,

:26:08. > :26:11.there are always measures that can be taken, things that can be done. I

:26:12. > :26:16.don't think anyone should be closed to ideas no matter where they came

:26:17. > :26:19.from. There are lots we can do to boost productivity, boost growth,

:26:20. > :26:23.boost tax yield, which are positive and sensible.

:26:24. > :26:26.In terms of taxation policy and I'm thinking about the kind of message

:26:27. > :26:30.that you deliver to people in Scotland, who are thinking ahead for

:26:31. > :26:34.the next two or three years, and I say as I mentioned the increased

:26:35. > :26:38.powers that the Government is getting in Scotland. And are you

:26:39. > :26:42.therefore, saying that they can't look forward to some of the

:26:43. > :26:47.effective cuts that Mr Osborne is himself putting forward? Oh, the

:26:48. > :26:50.basic rate threshold is unchanged, that's the basic rate threshold and

:26:51. > :26:55.everyone benefits from that. The problem with what he has done today,

:26:56. > :26:59.by increasing the 40 Pens threshold way above inflation and not tackling

:27:00. > :27:03.those who are earning modestly and won't benefit from an increase in

:27:04. > :27:07.the basic rate threshold, at the same time as cutting in work

:27:08. > :27:12.benefits which are vital is the wrong package of measures. And when

:27:13. > :27:16.it comes, I'm getting a lot of messages from disabled people who

:27:17. > :27:20.say they are concerned about continued cuts in welfare, what is

:27:21. > :27:24.your message on that? Well, we have laid out a number of things already.

:27:25. > :27:29.We maybe able to do in Scotland with some of the welfare powers we're

:27:30. > :27:34.getting. I think what we need to do is look again in the light of

:27:35. > :27:38.today's announcement and see what more can be done to help those

:27:39. > :27:41.Clearly, that again people. , is in the context of very difficult public

:27:42. > :27:46.spending targets ismt' just wondering again, where is your room

:27:47. > :27:51.for manoeuvre there then? We have had to balance the books every year

:27:52. > :27:54.in Scotland. Since the Scottish Parliament was formed, since the

:27:55. > :27:58.Scottish National Party came to power. We know how to balance the

:27:59. > :28:02.books and we know how to make tough decision. These are not unavoidable

:28:03. > :28:08.decision however, these are all political choices. George Osborne

:28:09. > :28:13.did not have to raise the tax threshold and take money from

:28:14. > :28:17.disabled people. He didn't have to do that. It was a political choice.

:28:18. > :28:21.We will layout in the manifesto all the right and appropriate political

:28:22. > :28:24.choices. Just to finish, I'm noticing a fut comments on social

:28:25. > :28:29.media here based on your comments as well. I want to underline this and

:28:30. > :28:34.get it very clearment you are saying that you are simply not keen on the

:28:35. > :28:38.prospect of raising that threshold to ?45,000 for higher earners that

:28:39. > :28:43.is not a policy that the SNP is supporting? No, I'm saying clearly,

:28:44. > :28:47.indeed, to having an above inflation in the 40 pence threshold when you

:28:48. > :28:51.are cutting money from the poorest and most vulnerable people in the

:28:52. > :28:56.country strikes me as a return to the nasty party from George Osborne.

:28:57. > :29:02.The implication is clear. Thank you very much for young us. I must end

:29:03. > :29:06.there. -- joining us. I must enthere. The time is coming up to

:29:07. > :29:09.3pm and we are saying goodbye to our viewers on the BBC News Channel. We

:29:10. > :29:13.are staying, of course, on BBC Two. To our viewers on the BBC News

:29:14. > :29:16.Channel, thank you for being with us and I will see you at 5pm. Thanks