Key points at-a-glance

Economy:

UK economic growth for 2021 has been revised upwards from 4% to 6.5%.
Inflation was 3.1% in September and “is likely to rise further” (Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expect it to average 4% over the next year) due to the surge in demand for energy and supply chain issues as economies re-opened post-pandemic.
Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now forecasts the economy to return to pre-Covid levels at the turn of this year and that there will be a “permanent scarring” of 2% (compared with 3% in March).

Economy expected to grow by 6% in 2022 then 2.1%, 1.3% and 1.6% over the next three years.

Underlying debt is forecast to be 85.2% of GDP this year then 85.4% in 2022-23.

It is then expected to peak at 85.7% in 2023-24.
Borrowing as a percentage of GDP is forecast to fall from 7.9% this year to 3.3% next year and then fall in the following four years to 1.5%

Jobs:

OBR expects unemployment to peak at 5.2%
Wages are rising, up 3.5 per cent from February 2020

National Living Wage to increase next year by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour.
Public sector pay freeze will end next year.

Tax:

Corporation tax on banks increases from 27% to 28% from 2023 but a 3% bank surcharge will be retained.

Healthcare:

Healthcare spending to increase by £44bn to £177bn by end of this Parliament.

Housing:

“Multi-year housing settlement” totalling nearly £24bn.
This includes £11.5bn to build up to 180,000 affordable homes and £1.8bn to regenerate 1,500 hectares of brownfield land.
£5bn to remove unsafe cladding from high risk buildings which will will be levied on developers with profits over £25m at a rate of 4%.

Fuel:

Fuel at highest rate in eight years – prompting the planned rise in fuel duty to be scrapped.

Business Rates:

Sunak says he is retaining business rates but will reform them with a pledge to make the system ‘fairer and timelier’.
Hospitality businesses to get 50% discount in business rates.

Alcohol Duty:

Five-step plan to overhaul alcohol duty which Chancellor called “outdated, complex and full of historical anomalies”.
There will be just six duty rates on alcohol – the stronger the drink, the higher the rate.
“Draught relief” – a 5% cut to duty on draught beer and cider served from draught containers over 40 litres.

Other:
Schools to get an extra £4.7bn by 2024-25.
£4.8bn grant for local governments.
Taxes to be cut on internal flights within the UK from April 2023.
Universal Credit taper cut by 8%.