Growth up. Jobs up. Living standards rising. Deficit down. National debt share falling. Britain is t

Today’s Budget shows the Conservatives’ long-term economic plan is working – with the deficit down, growth up, jobs up, living standards rising, and now debt is starting to fall as a share of the economy. That means families across Britain able to feel more financially secure.

But we now face a choice: between returning to the economic chaos of the past, or sticking to the economic plan that’s delivering for families. In this Budget we chose the future – taking another big step on the road to a stronger economy.

With this Budget we choose to secure a better future.

Cutting income taxes for 27 million hard-working people, and cancelling Labour’s planned rise in fuel duty.
A new Help to Buy ISA for first time buyers – so if you save up to £12,000 towards a deposit on a home, the government will contribute up to £3,000.
Helping savers with a new Personal Savings Allowance, abolishing savings tax altogether for 17 million people to create tax free banking.
Committing to run a budget surplus and keep our debt share falling.
Backing business and skills that will create full employment, and supporting pubs and brewers by cutting tax on beer and cider.
Investing across the UK for a truly national recovery.

Our Long-Term Economic Plan is working:

Debt as a share of the economy will start to fall in 2015/16, meeting our debt target. As promised in the emergency budget, debt as a share of GDP will start to fall – with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasting a fall from 80.4 per cent of national income in 2014/15 to 80.2 per cent in 2015/16.
The deficit is down by more than a half as a share of the economy. The deficit is forecast by the OBR to fall to 5.0 per cent of GDP in 2014/15 – down from 10.2 per cent in 2009/10.
The economy is growing – with growth in 2015 revised up to 2.5 per cent. The OBR forecast has been upgraded for the second time, after Britain grew faster than any other major advanced economy in 2014. And growth has been balanced, with manufacturing growing 4.5 times faster than in the pre-crisis decade.
Employment is going up and unemployment down. There are now more people in work than ever before – 1.9 million more people in work since 2010, and 1,000 jobs created for every day under the Conservatives.
Living standards are rising. The OBR forecast Real Household Disposable Income per-capita, the ONS and OECD living standards measure, rising, with families on average £900 better off in 2015 than in 2010.

These changes are all part of our long-term economic plan, and it’s critical we keep working through it.

That’s the simple choice voters face on 7 May: between the Conservatives, with our long-term economic plan that is working, or Labour, propped up by the SNP, who offer the chaos of the past.

What business say about the Budget:

Confederation of British Industry (CBI). ‘Stability and consistency are what businesses need to grow and prosper. This Budget sets the tone, providing a clear plan for fiscal health and growth’ (John Cridland, CBI Director-General, Press Release, 18 March 2015, link).

EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation. ‘The Chancellor gets three cheers from manufacturers for the measures he included to boost exporters’ (Terry Scuoler, Chief Executive of EEF, EEF Press Release, 18 March 2015, link).

This Budget sets out the next steps in our long-term economic plan:

Backing savers so we move from a country built on debt to one built on savings and investment

A new Personal Savings Allowance to abolish taxes for 17 million savers. From 2016 basic rate taxpayers will be able to earn up to £1,000 in interest on savings completely tax free, with a £500 allowance for higher rate taxpayers. This will take around 95 per cent of people out of savings tax altogether.
A Help to Buy ISA to help people save for their first home. This new ISA will mean for every £200 a first time buyer saves, the government will give a bonus of £50, up to a £3,000 bonus. So if you save £12,000 for the deposit on your first home, then you will get £3,000. For a basic rate taxpayer it’s the equivalent of not paying any income tax on £15,000 savings towards a first home.
A new Flexible ISA to encourage saving by trusting people with their hard-earned money. From the autumn, people will have complete freedom to take money out of an ISA and put it back in later in the year without losing their tax-free entitlement.
More freedom for pensioners over their savings. We will extend new pension freedoms to the 5 million people who already have an annuity, allowing them to sell their annuity income in return for a lump sum.

Cutting taxes for hardworking people

Cutting income tax to help 27 million hardworking families be more financially secure. We will raise the personal allowance to £10,800 next year and £11,000 the year after, a down payment on our commitment to raise the personal allowance to £12,500. Together with our tax cuts this parliament, a typical hardworking taxpayer will be over £900 a year better off, and 3.7 million of the lowest paid will have been taken out of tax altogether. We will also raise the 40p tax rate to £43,300 in 2017/18.
Freezing fuel duty to help families and small businesses with the cost of filling up a tank. We have again cancelled Labour’s planned fuel duty increase, due in September – delivering the longest duty freeze in 20 years. It saves a typical family around £10 when they fill up.
Cutting beer duty, cider duty and duty on Scotch whisky, and freezing wine duty. We will cut beer duty for the third year in a row, taking another penny off the pint; cut cider duty by 2 per and cut the duty on Scotch whisky by 2 per cent. We are also freezing the duty on wine in cash terms.

Backing businesses to create jobs

A major review of business rates. Business rates have not kept pace with the needs of the modern economy. We will review the structure of the system. The review will report back in time for Budget 2016.
Abolishing the annual tax return to make the tax system simpler. Millions of people will have their information automatically uploaded into new digital tax accounts, and businesses will feel they are paying a simple, single business tax with most having their information automatically received. Those with the most complex tax affairs will be able to manage their account on-line. We will abolish Class 2 National Insurances contributions for the self-employed – a massive simplification for five million people.

Making sure everyone pays their fair share of tax

Continuing to crack down on tax evasion and avoidance. Measures include: legislating for the new Common Reporting Standard and the Diverted Profits Tax; amending corporation tax rules to prevent contrived loss arrangements; no longer allowing businesses to take account of foreign branches when reclaiming VAT on overheads; cracking down on agencies and umbrella companies that exploit the tax system to reduce their own costs; and a review on the use of deeds of variation to avoid inheritance tax.

We have been rebalancing the economy. In the last year the north grew faster than the south, employment has grown fastest in the North West, and in the Midlands a job has been created every 10 minutes. Investment in energy and manufacturing - so the Midlands remains an engine of manufacturing growth.

To build an Engine For Growth in the Midlands we are giving £60m to new Energy Research Accelerator and £100m for driverless technology. The cash will go to universities including Warwick, Aston and Birmingham to develop new ways of storing and using energy - a key issue for the Midlands’ advanced manufacturing industries, including car makers.

Growth and jobs in the North were neglected by Labour. For every ten private sector jobs created in the London and the South between 1998 and 2008, only one was created in the Midlands and the North.