Five things we learned from the budget, including key updates to Merseyside

However, the Tory leader Rishi Sunak accused Ms Reeves of “fucking the numbers” by changing the way debt was measured. He said: “The reason the chancellor has increased borrowing and increased taxes is because she has completely failed to control public spending.”

Here are five key things we learned from today’s budget.

Liverpool Housing Finance Approval

Investment in housing and its role in economic development is central to the budget, Ms. Reeves said. has confirmed final Treasury approval of Homes England’s £56 million investment in the development of Liverpool Central Docks.. She told the House of Commons: “We will provide investment to refurbish sites across our country, including in Liverpool Central Docks, where we will deliver 2,000 new homes.”

Central Docks, which Ms Reeves mentioned in her first speech as Chancelloris Liverpool’s largest derelict site and the largest area within Liverpool Waters Project – real estate giant Peel’s plan rebuild the city’s northern docks over the next 30 years. In July, Liverpool City Council’s cabinet agreed to an agreement with Homes England to accept Brownfield infrastructure land grant and act as the responsible authority on behalf of Peel Waters for the establishment of the site’s infrastructure and subsequent development.

Once site preparation works are fully approved, plans for Central Docks include the creation of an interconnected network of public spaces. The proposed new landscape will include the planting of hundreds of trees, with the centerpiece being a 2.1-hectare “Central Park” that will be one of the city’s largest green spaces.

Ms Reeves also acknowledged the need to increase the supply of affordable housing, saying: “Having heard statements from local authorities, social housing providers and Shelter, I can today confirm that the Government will reduce Right to Buy discounts and local authorities will be able to retain all proceeds from any social housing sales. housing so that we can reinvest back into the housing stock and into new supply.

“By doing this, we will provide more people with a safe, secure and affordable place to live. We will provide stability to social housing providers by setting social housing rents at CPI plus 1% for the next five years, and we will deliver on our manifesto commitment to recruit hundreds of new planners to get Britain building again.

“We will also make progress on our commitment to speed up the recovery of homes following the findings of the Grenfell inquiry by investing £1 billion to remove dangerous cladding next year.”

Merseyside park saved

Campaigners are celebrating after the Budget scrapped plans for a dual carriageway which they say would have “destroyed” a Merseyside country park. Decision to remove the A5036 Port of Liverpool Access Road dual carriageway Sefton was included in the full fall budget report.

It said: “As part of the Government’s commitment to economic growth, it will make difficult decisions where there is no clear case for investment.

“Following a review, the Transport Secretary has decided not to move forward with the following unfunded and inaccessible road schemes on the strategic road network: A5036 Princess Way.”

The road would have passed through Rimrose Valley Country Park, which forms the border between Crosby And Litherland. The Save Rimrose Valley campaign group has been working on to oppose National Highways’ A5036 Liverpool Port access road plans since they were announced in 2017..

To read the campaign team’s full reaction, Click here.

No basic tax increases for workers

Ms Reeves told the House of Commons: “The last government cut £20 billion from national insurance for employees and the self-employed in its last two Budgets. These tax cuts were not fair. Because we now know they were based on a forecast that the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) said would have been “significantly different” if they had known the true extent of the past government’s cover-up.

“Since July, I have been repeatedly called upon to reconsider these cuts. Increase the taxes that working people pay and see on their paystubs. But today I made an important choice: to maintain all the commitments we made on tax in our manifesto.

“So I say to working people: I will not increase your National Insurance, your VAT or your income tax. As a result of the choices I make today, working people will not see higher taxes on their payrolls. This promise was made and the promise was kept.”

The Treasury Department states: “Workers are the lifeblood of our economy. This is why the Government will not increase basic, higher or additional rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT. This is a budget to protect workers.”

Although employees will not pay more in national insurance, the Treasury is increasing employers’ national insurance by 1.2 percentage points to 15%. Ms Reeves says it would raise £25 billion a year.

She said: “But any responsible chancellor today will have to make difficult decisions. To increase the revenue needed to fund our public services. And restore economic stability. So in today’s Budget I am announcing an increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions.

“From April 2025 we will increase the employers’ national insurance rate by 1.2 percentage points to 15%. per year up to £5,000. This will raise £25 billion a year by the end of the forecast period. I know this is a difficult choice. I don’t take this decision lightly.

“We are asking businesses to contribute more and I know the impact of this measure will be felt beyond business, as the OBR said today. But in the circumstances I inherited, it is the right choice.

“Successful businesses depend on successful schools. Healthy businesses depend on a healthy NHS. And a strong economy depends on strong government finances. If the opposing party decides to oppose this choice, they will choose more austerity, more chaos, and more instability. This is the choice our country faces.”

NHS support

Ms Reeves announced a £22.6 billion increase in the daily health budget. She told the House of Commons: “In the spring we will publish a 10-year plan for the NHS to move from hospital to community, from analogue to digital and from disease to prevention. Today we are announcing the down payment for this plan to allow National Health Service to ensure productivity growth of 2% next year.”

She added: “Today, due to the difficult decisions I have made on tax, welfare and spending, I can announce that I am delivering a £22.6 billion increase in the daily health budget and a £3.1 billion increase capital budget for this and next year.

“This is the largest increase in real terms in a day. National Health Service spending outside Covid since 2010.”

Ms Reeves confirmed £1bn would be allocated to upgrade NHS buildings, which are in a “ruinous state”, and £1.5bn would go towards purchasing new hospital beds. She told the House of Commons: “Many NHS buildings have been left in a state of disrepair, so we will provide £1 billion of capital investment in health next year to tackle the backlog of repairs and upgrades across the entire NHS building.

“To increase capacity to carry out tens of thousands more procedures next year, we will provide a further £1.5 billion in new hospital beds across the country, new capacity for more than a million additional diagnostic tests, and new surgery centers and diagnostic facilities , so that people waiting for treatment can get it as quickly as possible.

VAT on private school fees

Ms Reeves has set out in her budget a policy to apply VAT to private school fees from January 2025. Labor manifesto and she says she will use the money raised to support public schools.

She told the House of Commons: “Ninety-four per cent of children in Britain attend state schools. To ensure they receive the highest quality support and training they deserve, we will introduce VAT on private school fees from January 2025, and will soon introduce legislation to remove business rates relief from April 2025.

“In our manifesto we said these changes, along with our measures to tackle tax evasion, would bring in £8.5 billion by the final year of the forecast. Today I can confirm that they will indeed raise over £9 billion to support our public services and restore our public finances. This promise is made and the promise is kept.”

Labour’s pledge to introduce VAT on private schools would raise £1.7bn by 2029-30.