Today may well have been the last opportunity for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to woo voters with tax cuts and other fiscal vote winners.
The Spring Budget 2024 was a chance to help revive the UK’s equity markets and prop up wider economic growth. Considering Hunt will probably not be in place to see the outcomes of his measures, he may have gone further than the broadly telegraphed measures announced today.
The headline will be Hunt cut National Insurance by 2p as expected.
It was a fairly dull budget with no surprises, although there was a lot in there for investors. In many respects, today was a boring budget delivered by a boring Chancellor.
These are the highlights:
Forecasts
One of the most notable OBR forecasts was inflation falling below 2% by the summer. This would give the Bank of England almost everything they needed to justify cutting interest rates.
The OBR expects the UK economy to grow 0.9% this year and 1.9% next year. Any growth will be welcome after the UK entered a recession last year, but the UK will lag behind other major economies.
Tax
National Insurance is to be cut by an additional 2p – no surprise here. This is worth £450 to the average worker.
Self-employed National Insurance is to be cut to 6% from 8%.
Higher rate Capital gains tax for property has been reduced to 24% from 28%.
Non-dom tax treatment status is to be scrapped and replaced with a new scheme.
ISAs
The sign-posted ‘British ISA’ was announced providing investors an additional £5,000 allowance to invest only in UK companies. Some commentators had expected a £10,000 additional allowance. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and if it helps prop up low UK equity valuations given a large proportion of ISA millionaires invest mostly in UK companies already.
There will be a new British ISA, which allows an additional £5,000 investment on top of the £20,000 allowance – to focus only on investing in UK assets. #Budget2024 #BudgetXplanations
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) March 6, 2024
Stamp Duty
Stamp Duty relief for those buying more than one property is being abolished.
There was no change to stamp duty on buying shares.
Pensions
UK Government pension schemes are now required to disclose their holding in overseas companies. There is no requirment for them. to invest in UK companies.
To support UK entrepreneurs staying in the UK and listing their businesses here, the government is to make it easier for pension funds to invest in UK assets.
Hunt hopes this could make the UK the next Silicon Valley.
Retail investor engagement
The government will push forward with the public sale of NatWest shares. It is questionable what impact this will have given NatWest shares can be bought on the open market and the government is unlikely to want to let them go at a significant discount.
Levelling up
Canary Wharf has been earmarked as a life sciences hub and Cambridge will receive £650m support to expand the already established pharmaceutical and life sciences hub. Liverpool has been selected as a vaccine-manufacturing hub.
Canary Wharf will receive £242m to build new homes and establish a life sciences hub. Hunt probably means the areas just outside Canary Wharf as opposed to building flats on Bank Street.
Technology companies were mentioned on numerous occasions, funding will be provided to support specific sub-sectors and spread the industry across the UK. AI was mentioned as expected.
Chancellor announces £242m in the Budget for Barking Riverside and Canary Wharf in London. He says 8000 homes will be built as a result and that Canary Wharf will become a hub for life sciences companies.@BBCRadioLondon @BBCLondonNews#Budget2024
— Susana Mendonça (@susana_mendonca) March 6, 2024
Small Business Support
The Recovery Loan Scheme and renaming it as the Growth Guarantee Scheme, this is designed to help 11,000 SME access finance.
VAT registration limit has been increased to £90,000 from £80,000 – the first increase in 7 years.
Oil and Gas Windfall Tax
The oil and gas windfall tax is being extended until 2029.
Fuel duty
The temporary 5p cut in fuel duty rates have been extended for a further 12 months and the planned inflation increase has been scrapped. This is thought to save the average motorist £250 per year.
We are extending the temporary 5p cut in fuel duty rates for a further 12 months & have cancelled the planned inflation increase.
— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) March 6, 2024
Supporting motorists across the country with rising prices, saving an average of £250 per car since the cut was introduced in 2022. pic.twitter.com/8jCHOqlW4Y
“Whilst only likely to have a small positive impact, it’s a step in the right direction, particularly for the 53% of drivers who cite fuel prices as the biggest challenge in the next 12 months,” said Lisa Watson, Director of Sales at Close Brothers Motor Finance.
“We’ve seen continuous hikes at the pumps over the last few months and this has added further pressure to drivers who already feel they’re faced with increased costs from all lanes, making car ownership difficult to afford for 62% of drivers. What is essential now is that this cut reaches drivers’ fuel tanks and wallets.”
Alcohol duty
Alcohol duty will be frozen until next year. Cheers Jeremy!
Welfare
The household support fund has been expanded by £500m to help the countries most vulnerable.
NHS
The NHS will receive an additional in funding £2.5bn.
The NHS is to double spending efforts to speed up the much needed its digital transformation.
