UK 2024 Budget in nine key points

    • Author, Paul Seddon
    • Role, Political reporter
  • Read am in 5 mins

Chancellor Rachel Reeves don deliver Labour first Budget since 2010, after di party return to power for July general election.

She announce tax rises worth £40bn to fund di NHS and oda public services.

Dis na di summary of di main measures.

Personal taxes

  • Rates of income tax and National Insurance (NI) paid by employees, and of VAT, go remain unchanged
  • Income tax band thresholds go rise in line with inflation after 2028, dis go prevent more pipo from being dragged into higher bands as wages rise
  • Basic rate capital gains tax on profits from selling shares go increase from 10% to 18%, and di higher rate go rise from 20% to 24%
  • Rates on profits from selling additional property go dey unchanged
  • Inheritance tax threshold freeze dey extended by further two years to 2030, with unspent pension pots also subject to di tax from 2027

Business taxes

  • Companies go pay NI at 15% on salaries above £5,000 from April, up from 13.8% on salaries above £9,100, raising an additional £25bn a year
  • Employment allowance - wey allow smaller companies to reduce dia NI liability - to increase from £5,000 to £10,500
  • Tax paid by private equity managers on share of profits from successful deals go rise from up to 28% to up to 32% from April
  • Main rate of corporation tax, paid by businesses on taxable profits over £250,000, go stay at 25% until next election
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Wages, benefits and pensions

  • Rate for 18 to 20-year-olds go go up from £8.60 to £10, as part of a long-term plan to move towards a "single adult rate"
  • Basic and new state pension payments go go up by 4.1% next year due to di "triple lock", more than working age benefits
  • Eligibility dey widened for di allowance dem dey pay to full-time carers, by increasing di maximum earnings threshold from £151 to £195 a week

Transport

  • Dem keep for anoda year, 5p cut in fuel duty on petrol and diesel wey di Conservatives bin bring in, wey go end in April 2025
  • Commitment to fund tunnelling work to take HS2 high-speed rail line to Euston station for central London
  • Goment say dem go "secure di delivery" of Transpennine rail upgrade between York and Manchester, after reports ministers dey look into to cut costs
  • Air Passenger Duty go go up in 2026, by £2 for short-haul economy flights and £12 for long-haul ones, and rates for private jets go go up by 50%
  • Extra £500m next year to repair potholes for England
  • Vehicle Excise Duty wey owners of all except di most efficient new petrol cars go double in dia first year, to encourage shift to electric vehicles

Drinking and smoking

  • Tax on tobacco go increase by 2% above inflation, and 10% above inflation for hand-rolling tobacco
  • Tax on non-draught alcoholic drinks go increase by di higher RPI measure of inflation, but tax on draught drinks cut by 1.7%
  • Goment go review thresholds for sugar tax on soft drinks, and consider to extend am to "milk-based" beverages

Goment spending and public services

  • Day-to-day spending on NHS and education in England go rise by 4.7% in real terms dis year, before smaller rises next year
  • Defence spending go rise by £2.9bn next year
  • Home Office budget go shrink by 3.1% dis year and 3.3% next year in real terms, due to assumed savings from asylum system
  • £1.3bn extra funding next year for local councils, wey go also keep all cash from Right to Buy sales from next month

Housing

  • Social housing providers go dey allowed to increase rents above inflation under multi-year settlement
  • Discounts for social housing tenants to buy dia property under di Right to Buy scheme go dey reduced
  • Point wia house buyers go start to pay stamp duty on a main home go drop from £250,000 to £125,000 in April, reversing a previous tax cut
  • Threshold wey first-time buyers dey take pay di tax go also drop back, from £425,000 to £300,000
  • Current affordable homes budget, wey dey run until 2026, go dey boosted by £500m

UK growth, inflation and debt

  • Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predict say di UK economy go grow by 1.1% dis year, 2% next year, and 1.8% for 2026
  • Inflation predicted to average 2.5% dis year, 2.6% next year, before falling to 2.3% for 2026
  • Official definition of UK goment debt go dey loosened by including a wider range of financial assets, such as future student loan repayments
  • Budget policies go increase UK borrowing by £19.6bn dis year and by an average of £32.3bn over di next five years, according to di OBR

Oda measures

  • £11.8bn dey allocated to compensate victims of di infected blood scandal, with £1.8bn set aside for wrongly prosecuted Post Office sub-postmasters