08/03/2017 BBC News at Six

The Chancellor's Budget - he hits 2.5 million

self-employed with higher National Insurance contributions.

REPORTER: Any spare cash in there, Chancellor?

That's despite pledging not to in the party manifesto.

But Mr Hammond says his budget promises a better future.

We embark on this next chapter of our history, confident in

our strengths and clear in our determination

to build a stronger, fairer, better Britain.

It demonstrates again the appalling priorities of this Government.

Another year, tax breaks for the few, public

An extra ?2 billion is found for social care in England to be

We'll be looking at the impact of today's budget and how

The missing airman Corrie McKeague - now the police say they believe his

Leaked documents apparently from the CIA suggest it could be.

And coming up in Sportsday on BBC News - a five match ban.

Bournemouth defender Tyrone Mings is given his punishment for stamping

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six.

The Chancellor has delivered his last Spring Budget and announced

a few surprises, if no eye-catching giveaways.

The overall economic picture is little changed, giving him

But Philip Hammond told a packed House of Commons he had managed

to find an extra ?2 billion for social care in England to be

A more controversial pledge was his decision to increase

National Insurance contributions for almost 2.5 million people -

despite a Conservative manifesto promise that National Insurance

Mr Hammond also tackled criticism of the Government's plans

to increase business rates in England and Wales by promising

an emergency relief fund for those businesses hit hardest -

and by capping the increase for most pubs.

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described it as a Budget

Our deputy political editor John Pienaar has our

Chancellors always hang around in the street on budget day. But

Brexit, a bit like the weather, turned out nice so far than the

forecasters expected. The Any spare cash in there? He had more spending

power thanks to higher growth and lower borrowing. But Brexit will not

be a smooth or quick journey, not that he is too worried about his

Labour opponents. At Westminster, as the time came to the budget, his

boss, rightly or wrongly, seemed to see Labour's labour as a bit of a

joke. And more than just a bit. And the Chancellor allowed himself to

keep the tone upbeat. I report today on an economy that has continued to

confound the commentators with robust growth. A labour market

delivering record employment and a deficit down by over two thirds. As

we start our negotiations to exit the European Union, this Budget

takes forward our plan to prepare Britain for a brighter future. They

call him Spreadsheet Phil, businesslike, proud to be boring.

So, no spending sprees. We on this side will not saddle our children

with ever-increasing debt. But we would have higher bills to pay and,

for millions, that meant higher taxes, on company owners, who pay

themselves in share dividends, and a hike in national insurance for the

self-employed, though the Tory manifesto did promise to keep

national insurance down. Employed and self-employed alike use our

public services in the same way. But they are not paying for them in the

same way. National insurance, there is a tax hike for the self-employed.

Their national insurance contributions will go up to 11% in

2019. The Chancellor says this will help raise ?145 million. Other

changes raise much more. But some Tories are unhappy. Painful social

care is now an urgent problem and the Chancellor had promised MPs he

would find cash to buy more time. -- paying for social care. The system

is clearly under pressure and this, in turn, puts pressure on our NHS.

For social care, an extra ?2 billion over three years, with ?1 billion

available in the next year. He said the long-term funding options would

be announced, but what he called Labour's death tax on estates was

ruled out. Companies, including pubs, are being hit with higher

business rates. That has worried MPs and forced the Chancellor to pour

out a little comfort. Small businesses are taken out of paying

rates altogether. The revaluation has undoubtedly raised some hard

cases, especially for those businesses coming out of small

business rates relief. To ease the burden of business rates, local

councils will be given ?300 million to help the worst hit. No small

business losing rate relief will see their bill increased by more than

?50 a month. There would be a ?1000 discount on rates for but, with a

rateable value of less than ?100,000, 90% of them. There were

grounds for new schools, grants for technical education and spending on

technology and science. Cue another joke at the expense of Jeremy

Corbyn. Now so far down a black hole that even Stephen Hawking has

disowned him. He didn't see the joke at all. But the Chancellor was into

his stride and feeling upbeat. We embark on this next chapter of our

history, confident in our strengths and clear in our determination to

build a stronger, fairer, better Britain. I commend this Budget to

the house. Jeremy Corbyn had his counterattack ready. This was a

Budget of utter complacency about the state of our economy. But

complacency about the crisis facing our public services. Complacency

about the reality of daily life for millions of people in this country.

The Government was failing in its own ambitions. When she took office,

the Prime Minister said, if you are one of those families, if you are

just managing, I want to address you directly. This Budget does not

address them. It fails them! This budget has done nothing to tackle

low pay, nothing to solve the state of emergency that persists with so

many people, demanding and needing health and social care now. Extra

money for Wales and Scotland, meant to cement the case for the union,

was never likely to head off nationalist condemnation. It wasn't

awful Budget, the Brexit Budget that dare not speak its name, it barely

mentioned Brexit, the biggest risk to the UK and Scottish economy. He

is wedded to the welfare cuts, and appalling Budget. Taxes are at their

highest rates, wages are declining, when you mask the creative

accounting, that is the reality of economic policy. A strong backlash

for a relatively small-scale Budget. But fierce controversy as normal

now, on Britain's long march to! . -- Brexit.

For the economy there's little change.

It will grow faster than expected for 2017 but then fall back

Government borrowing will be lower in the short term -

but over the coming five years we'll still borrow over ?100 billion more

All that with a huge national debt which is still climbing.

Our economics correspondent Andy Verity has been

studying the numbers - and he's with me here.

The Chancellor's spring budget brought some reasons to be careful,

with extra funds for those needing social care, those hit by higher

business rates and a little for the NHS. Just like the daffodils at

Westminster, it will not last very long.

In the autumn, the outlook was gloomy. Convinced that leaving the

EU would hit the economy soon, the Office for Budget Responsibility

predicted a slowdown. They were wrong. It has brightened up. The

Chancellor has a giant overdraft, but he is using less of it than he

thought. Back in the autumn, the prediction

was for weak growth this year, dropping to 1.4% but picking up

again a couple of years from now. Nowthe economy's predicted to grow

much faster this year But after that it's

expected to slow down - with weaker growth 2-3

years from now. The economy has had more momentum

coming through 2016 and into the early months of this year than we

expected in the autumn. But we haven't changed our view about the

total growth that the economy can sustain over the next five years. If

you have more good news at the beginning of the forecast, you have

slightly weaker growth for the rest. That pattern - faster growth now,

but a slowdown later on - is reflected in the amount

the Chancellor has to borrow because, like most Chancellors,

he spends a lot more In the autumn he thought he'd have

to borrow ?68 billion this year. But now he'll only have to borrow

?52 billion because the economy's doing better than expected -

so he's collecting more in taxes. However, if you look

at five years from now, he'll still be borrowing ?17 billion

- the same figure And he's had to find some way

to raise money so it doesn't Over the whole Parliament,

the message today from the Office for Budget Responsibility

is the challenge remains. Most of the deterioration

in the public finances over the Parliament that they forecast

before Christmas stays in place and, mostly as a result of changes

associated with Brexit, we still have a really challenging

Parliament to come. So here's the taxing question -

will those with the biggest If you look at corporations,

they're getting a tax cut five years Meanwhile, those receiving

dividends, including 600,000 people who own their own companies,

will pay an extra ?930 million. And 4 million self-employed people

earning more than ?16,000 will pay Philip Hammond says those

tax-raising measures But of course, self-employed people

asked to pay more in tax The chancellor announced an extra

?2 billion for social care, admitting the system

"is clearly under pressure". The money will be spent in England

over the next three years. While the money has been widely

welcomed, there's been criticism that it's still not enough money

and won't fix a system that's no Our social affairs correspondent

Alison Holt reports Four times a day, care workers help

76-year-old Avril with such things as washing, dressing and getting to

the toilet. The rest of the time, her husband looks after her in their

Nottinghamshire home. A stroke left her partly paralysed. This is what

the extra ?2 billion announced for social care will help pay for. The

couple believe it is something the Chancellor had to do. It's not just

me that needs it, it's people that can't do nothing. What would you say

to the Chancellor? Get your hand in your pocket. How would he like it if

he was sat at home and can't move? And of the money the Chancellor has

found, councils will get ?1 billion in the coming financial year, with

the rest in the following two years to ease the pressures. Care

companies welcome this, but say the money must reach front line staff.

Staff need to be paid a salary which represents the work that they

undertake in the community, travelling around, visiting people

like Mrs Smith, day in, day out, sometimes four times a day, to give

them the care that they need. We need to be to support that in terms

of a proper living wage. At Nottinghamshire County Council, they

started doing their son the moment the budget speech was finished. They

say they currently have a funding shortfall of about ?70 million. --

doing their sums. They calculate that today's announcement will use

those pressures to the tune of ?70 million. The Labour leader of the

council had written to the Chancellor warning that the system

was at breaking point after years of cuts to local authorities. His

welcome today is cautious. We have still got a temporary money in the

system, and there still needs to be a longer-term solution because, one

thing is for sure, we can't carry on the way that we are, treating this

almost as crisis management. And with more younger adults with

disabilities needing support, the demand for different types of care

is also increasing. The Government has promised there will be a Green

paper which looks at the funding of social care for the future.

Well, among the most eye catching announcements today,

are the changes to National Insurance for almost

2.5 million self-employed - and the cut to the tax

The number of self-employed people has been rising steadily over recent

Reeta Chakrabarti has been talking to families

No need to worry about the sums when you are small, that is what your mum

is for. Charlotte and Sarah are self-employed, starting separate

businesses after having children. Charlotte says the Chancellor's hike

for national insurance contribution is for people like her is bad news.

I think it is affecting kitchen table businesses, you know, mums

starting up after maternity leave. You don't get the same benefits as

an employed person, if we are sick, we are working through, there is

nobody to take over. The Chancellor says it is fair and bring you to

levels that other people have to pay? I guess so, if I was working, I

would be paying that level anyway. I can't feel too bad about it. Ruth

also started out as self-employed, but she now runs a larger business

selling bidding pools, and the national insurance increase will

affect her. But it should be offset by cuts in corporation tax. The

Chancellor is taxing business people on eight personal level more. But he

is sneaking in the corporation tax going down. Overall, the question is

where the balance lies. Overall, it sounds like you will be roughly...

Where we were, absolutely. Today's reforms to national insurance

contributions and previously announced changes means that there

are winners and losers. Somebody that are self-employed with average

earnings of ?12,700 will be ?70 per year better off in 2019-20. For a

self-employed person earning an average of ?17,300, they will be ?20

worse off. A self-employed management consultant on an average

of over ?51,000 would be ?620 worse off per year. There is not much

sympathy down the road in Keighley, as a family business that is three

generations old. They are all classed as employees and all taxed

as pay as you earn. They say it is quite right, to the Chancellor's

changes. At the moment, they are paying a lot less for very similar

amounts of cover and help from the Government. They get the same state

pension now and they have a lot more flexible at the in their own

lifestyle. You think it is right and fair that the Chancellor has done

this? Absolutely, it is the way forward. Blue sky over Yorkshire

today. As always on budget day, only for some.

Other measures from today's Budget - there were no new announcements

for tobacco but increases announced previously mean that from tonight,

the price of a packet of cigarettes will go up by 35p.

And from Monday, a pint of beer will go up by 2p,

a bottle of whisky by 36p and a bottle of wine by 10p.

There will be ?100 million to fund more GPs in accident and emergency

And there will be ?270 million for science and innovation,

which includes research into robots and driverless cars.

There will be ?90 million for transport in the north

of England and ?23 million for the Midlands, to ease

And the Scottish Government will be ?350 million better off ,

there will be ?200 million for the Welsh Government

and ?120 million for the Northern Ireland Executive.

Let's take a moment to look at the Budget overall

with our political editor Laura Kuenssberg, who's

This was a very cautious budget with no showy giveaways -

a reflection of the Prime Minister's vision as much as the Chancellor's.

I think very much a reflection of the Chancellor's style. Philip

Hammond has been a senior Cabinet minister for a long time but this

was his first budget. That is a red letter day in number 11. He was

relaxed and confident enough to be cracking jokes practically all the

way through. But the overall picture is not necessarily happy. Slightly

better. More cuts to come and tough times ahead for families. Millions

of voters feeling it is pretty tough to make ends meet. Politically,

there is a row brewing. We heard about the rises in national

insurance payments for some people who are self-employed. That is

damaging, potentially, not just because the people affected, it

might not be too much money but they might not be pleased about paying

more attacks, but also in the Tory manifesto in 2015 the Conservatives

made a clear promise not to raise national insurance contributions.

The dispute, on a technicality, exactly whether they've broken a

promise, but Tory backbenchers are worried about this not just because

of the image of breaking a promise but also there are fears that it

goes after the Tory tribe, so for a budget that was supposed to be

safety first, I don't think the government is going to escape

unscathed. It is far too early to say that this budget is going to

unravel in the way that some dramatically have.

More on the budget later in the programme -

All the details of the Chancellors' announcements are there -

with updates and analysis from our editors and

The Chancellor's Budget - he hits 2.5 million

self-employed with higher national insurance contributions.

An extra ?2 billion is found for social care in England to be

Jose Mourinho says the Rostov pitch isn't

good enough to play on, but UEFA says Manchester United's

Europa League tie will go ahead as scheduled tomorrow.

Are you being spied on as you're watching the news tonight?

Is your television hacked into - so that the intelligence agencies

That's the extraordinary suggestion in documents -

apparently from the CIA - released last night

Today the companies which make the devices say they're urgently

Here's our Security Correspondent Gordon Corera.

If you've got an internet connected TV, that might be possible.

Secret documents show how the CIA have turned TVs

into bugging devices, giving the capability a codename,

Weeping Angel, named it seems after characters

A team of security researchers showed me how they've replicated

So how is it possible to turn a TV like this into a bugging device?

Modern TVs are basically powerful computers.

They've got lots of processes on there.

But most importantly they have microphones and interanet access.

So we have written an application here, the screen is almost blank,

it listens to everything we are saying.

Once the app's installed, it makes it look like your TV is off

We have infected it with malware and now we have a microphone here

It is possible that your TV is being used as a spy, as a Big Brother

The leaked documents show the CIA worked with Britain's MI5

to develop this capability, to target specific individuals.

MI5 will not comment but surveillance is a key tool

Bugging buildings and cars is something it has

The latest digital technology simply offers new ways to do that.

For the CIA the leak of hundreds of pages of documents

Highlighting its failure to keep its own secrets.

And a former head of the agency told the BBC the leak

This seems to be an incredibly damaging leak in terms

of the tactics, techniques, procedures and tools

that we were used by the Central Intelligence agency

to conduct legitimate foreign intelligence.

In other words it has made my country and my

The latest technology has turned on new ways to monitor people.

But the debate over what that means for all our privacy is not one

More than 30 people have been killed, and dozens wounded,

in an attack by Islamic State militants, at a hospital in the

Local officials say the three gunmen were dressed as doctors.

The security forces killed them after several hours of fighting.

Two people - a man and a woman - have died and a second woman has

been critically injured after a stabbing at

West Midlands Police used stun grenades to break into the flat.

Another woman, believed to be the mother, is in hospital.

A senior executive at Toyota has suggested the Japanese carmaker may

delay deciding whether to build the next Auris model in the UK.

He said the decision would be made when more is known

about the outcome of Britain's negotiations to leave

Toyota currently builds the Auris hatchback at its Burnaston

What happened to 23 year old Corrie McKeague?

He was working as an RAF airman when he simply

vanished during a night out in Bury St Edmunds last September.

Now new evidence has come to light linking the signals from his mobile

phone to a bin lorry - and the police say they are now

confident his body will be found in a local landfill.

Our Correspondent Ben Ando sent this report.

It's a dirty job but could provide the answers to a mystery that has

baffled police for months. The search is focused on this landfill

site. He was serving at RAF Waddington. He went on a night with

friends in Bury St Edmunds and said he would walk home. He never made

it. Corrie was last seen entering a service area at 3am behind some

bins. Bin lorry called and then travelled, where his phone pinged.

It ended the journey at the landfill site. The please know that they will

be criticised for not starting this sooner they said originally they

were told the bin lorry was only carrying waste of 11 kilograms. When

they learned it was nearer 100 kilograms, that changed everything.

That was a sobering moment. We've been committed to this investigation

for nearly six months. And the investigating officer. I cannot

imagine what it feels like. His family admit they've been frustrated

by the investigation but all that matters is finding him. It is not

the agony of not knowing. You can still believe that they are alive.

We just got to find him first. As the search continues, so does the

waiting. More now on our main news:

the Budget announced Philip Hammond said

there would be more money for social care in England -

and he announced increases to National Insurance

contributions for millions Our Economics Editor Kamal Ahmed has

been tracking every detail - and he's with me here -

what's the big message There are a couple of big things to

think about as we look back on today's event. Firstly, economic

growth is better, but that is short-term. This was actually a very

small budget. 28 measures compared to 77 this time last year. Let's

expect a lot more for the Autumn budget. It raised two huge issues.

This issue about the taxing of work. The world of work as more people are

self-employed. Digital companies operate in different ways. I think

the setup as well as the chains today on that issue will be a huge

debating point over the next few years of this government. The second

big issue was social care. The tax increases are almost equal to the

amount of new money to be spent. The Treasury knows it is a temporary

fix. There will need to be a huge debate about how we pay for an

ageing population. Two things announced on how we tax ourselves.

Those big issues will come back to us when we talk about this and we

have more substantial things to say. Let's take a look at the weather.

Sunshine across England and Northern Ireland with temperatures heading up

to 13 Celsius. We've been topped and tailed by cloud and it has produced

showers. Strong Gale force winds may clip the north of Northern Ireland.

We see outbreaks of light rain for southern England and Wales. Still

around, during the first part of the day, tomorrow, those showers are

confined to the far north. You see the extent of the fine weather. You

can see this risk of patchy light rain. We could see 16 Celsius in

parts of England. Wherever you are it will feel very pleasant indeed

with temperatures getting into double figures. For Scotland, good

sunshine. I have to say, it will turn chilly down the east of the UK

whereas in the West we have thicker cloud. Heavier for a time in order

Northern Ireland. Even though Friday is mild, it will look good. For the

weekend, it will be changeable. There will be sunshine and bands of

wet weather. Not a wash-out but by Sunday it will turn called. Back to

you. That