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In the Budget, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, kept talking of the ‘next generation’. He outlined cuts of £3.5 billion in public spending by 2020, to be ‘on course’ to balance the books. Personal allowances edged up for lower taxpayers, with the higher-rate threshold rising to £45,000. A ‘lifetime Isa’ for under-40s would be introduced. Corporation tax would go down to 17 per cent by 2020. Small-business rate relief was raised: a ‘hairdresser in Leeds’ would pay none. Fuel, beer, cider and whisky duty would be frozen. To turn all state schools into academies (removing local authorities from education), he earmarked £1.5 billion. He gave the go-ahead for Crossrail 2, north to south under London, and rail links in the North. A sugar levy on soft drinks companies would go to school sport.
Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, and Gisela Stuart, the German-born Labour MP, were named as joint heads of the Vote Leave campaign for the referendum on the EU.
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