Budget UK reside: Everything Jeremy Hunt announced from cigarette prices to pensioners

Child profit threshold raised from £50,000 to £60,000 – learn extra

Rates guarateed for nurseries forward of free childcare roll-out – learn extra

The Tory chancellor additionally confirmed one other extension of gasoline responsibility freeze – which means motorists will proceed to save on petrol prices.

Jeremy Hunt has announced a brand new tax on vapes as the federal government moved to crack down on smoking within the spring Budget.

The chancellor launched a levy on the smoking alternate options in a bid to make them unaffordable for kids. He stated the transfer would take impact from October 2026.

It comes after the federal government in November final yr made plans for a “smoke-free” technology by banning tobacco merchandise for kids turning 14 or youthful.

The chancellor slashed 2p from nationwide insurance coverage – and signalled his want to abolish it altogether – in a bid to woo disgruntled voters. Combined with an identical lower on the finish of final yr, Mr Hunt stated an individual on a mean wage of £35,000 can be £900 a yr higher off.

But in a withering evaluation, the extremely revered Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) stated for each £1 handed again to voters by the chancellor, the choice to freeze tax thresholds would declare £1.30.

Politics and Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin, Political Correspondent Archie Mitchell and Political Correspondent Zoe Grunewald report:

A “smoke and mirrors” Budget has left the general financial image largely unchanged and a “sour” prospect for whoever wins the subsequent election, two main financial suppose tanks have stated.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Resolution Foundation each stated Wednesday’s Budget meant taxes had been nonetheless going up and residing requirements nonetheless falling since 2019 regardless of the announcement of one other 2p lower in nationwide insurance coverage.

Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, stated “smoke and mirrors” had been to be anticipated, and the “big picture on tax remains much the same”, with tax revenues being 3.9% of nationwide earnings larger than they had been in 2019.

Christopher McKeon experiences:

The Budget “won’t make a dent” in Northern Ireland’s monetary challenges, Stormont’s Finance Minister has stated.

The Budget will present an additional £100 million for public spending in Northern Ireland in 2024-25, the Government has stated.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt additionally announced regeneration funds of £20 million every for Londonderry and Coleraine over 10 years.

Jonathan McCambridge experiences:

It stays to be seen if Jeremy Hunt’s final spring Budget earlier than the election makes a lot affect on his get together’s probabilities of successful a fifth time period. In fact, Budgets have a tendency to be ephemeral issues with measures reversed by successive administrations – and even by the identical chancellor. However, a number of Budgets did make their mark in historical past, for good and unhealthy causes…

Read the complete story right here…

Expected rises in council tax will wipe out any profit felt by households from the lower to nationwide insurance coverage announced within the Budget, figures counsel.

A forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) reveals council tax receipts in England are anticipated to rise from £38.7 billion in 2023-24 to £50.4 billion in 2028/29, a rise of £11.7 billion.

This compares with receipts totalling £10.7 billion which the OBR expects to be generated over the identical interval by the two% lower to nationwide insurance coverage announced by Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday.