Member Article

Osborne promises £3bn infrastructure spending, in 2015

Public sector pay increases will be limited to 1% in 2015/16; £3bn of infrastructure stimulus will be implemented from 2015; and corporation tax will be cut to 21%, said the Chancellor in his Budget speech.

Mr Osborne also added plans to introduce capital gains tax relief for businesses sold to employees; tax reforms to encourage investment in shale gas; and an increase in the government procurement budgets spent through the Small Business Research Initiative.

Fuel duty will be frozen for a third year in a row, and an Employment Allowance will be introduced, knocking the first £2000 off national insurance paid by every company.

In his introduction to the Budget, the Chancellor said it included measures for our “aspiration nation.”

He criticised Labour’s corporate tax policies, suggesting it would drive business to other countries, and said: “Our nation is in a global race for investment and growth that could locate anywhere.

“We are building a modern, reformed state, bringing business to our shores with competitive taxes and fixing the banks.”

Mr Osborne boasted that the Coalition had helped UK businesses to create 1.25m new jobs. He reiterated that the shrinking of the public sector was the right thing to do, and praised businesses in the private sector for creating six jobs for every one lost in the public sector.

The Chancellor referred to estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility that point to 600,000 more jobs to be created in 2013, and 60,000 fewer claimants of Job Seeker’s Allowance.

However, he also warned: “The OBR have today sharply revised down their future growth forecast for the eurozone, and expect it will remain in recession throughout this year.”

Mr Osborne revised growth forecasts for 2013, down to 0.6%, which is half the growth he had predicted in his autumn statement.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .