Philip Hammond avoided any disasters in his second budget of 2017. Here are the headline announcements:
- Growth forecasts downgraded: Britain’s economy is now expected to grow by 1.5 per cent in 2017, down from the prediction of 2 per cent made in March
- Stamp duty scrapped for first time buyers on homes costing up to £300,000
- £3bn set aside for Brexit preparations
- Millenials’ railcard confirmed; National Living Wage up; VAT threshold for small businesses maintained; £2.8bn more for the NHS; 100 per cent council tax on empty homes; target to build 300,000 new homes by 2020s
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Tobacco duty up; beer and wine duty frozen; No fuel duty rise for petrol and diesel cars next year
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Annual borrowing is £49.9bn for 2017, down by over £8bn on earlier forecast
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