People living and working across London will benefit from today's Budget as the Conservatives deliver on the promises made to the British people, investing in infrastructure, the NHS and public services across the region.
The plans outlined by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, will get things done and provide security for now while laying the foundation for prosperity in the future.
The Budget marks the start of record level of investment in the people's priorities - infrastructure, the NHS and public services – to ensure the promises in the General Election in December are kept and the potential of every part of the United Kingdom, including London, is unleashed.
Increases in the National Insurance threshold and the National Living Wage announced today will mean families keep more of the money they earn, while tens of millions of pounds of investment in the region's roads, rail, housing, broadband and flood defences will ensure everyone can have the same chances and opportunities in life wherever they live.
Thanks to the measures taken today, someone working full-time on the minimum wage in London will be over £5,200 better off compared to ten years ago when the Conservatives' came into office.
Nick Vandyke, the Conservative London Assembly candidate for City & East which includes Dagenham, said today's Budget proves this Government ‘will get things done' for thousands of families across the constituency.
Today's announcements for London include:
- Developing major local road upgrades, including Kew Bridge, Croydon Flyover and the Hope and Anchor Flyover. We will also provide London its share of £2.9 billion spending on major strategic road schemes in London and the South East between 2020 and 2025. This will help fund the Lower Thames Crossing.
- Investing an additional £5.2 billion across the country to improve flood and coastal defences, with London receiving a share of this. This includes £2 million for Woolwich and £1.4 million for Dagenham to better protect over 1,000 properties.
- Improving accessibility for disabled people at Motspur Park, South Croydon and Tooting railway stations. This is part of a wider £50 million investment in station accessibility.
- Investing £2.7 billion for six major hospital schemes, two of which are in London. We have committed funding for Barts Health NHS Trust and Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Commenting, Nick Vandyke said:
Last year's election gave a clear verdict. Now the people's Government is delivering a Budget which delivers on our promises to the British people - it is a Budget of a government that gets things done.
Investment will reach record levels over the next five years, as the Conservatives commit to levelling up across the country – benefitting families and businesses in all corners of the country including Dagenham.
I am delighted that we have set out measures to support families and help them with the cost of living, while continuing to invest in Britain's future responsibly – laying the foundations for a decade of growth and prosperity.
This is the first Budget delivered outside of the EU for more than five decades. It sets out a clear, one nation, path for the Government to get things done.
Notes
Today's announcements for London include:
- Developing major local road upgrades, including Kew Bridge, Croydon Flyover and the Hope and Anchor Flyover. We will also provide London its share of £2.9 billion spending on major strategic road schemes in London and the South East between 2020 and 2025, which will help fund the Lower Thames Crossing.
- Improving accessibility for disabled people at Motspur Park, South Croydon and Tooting railway stations. This is part of a wider £50 million investment in station accessibility.
- Investing an additional £5.2 billion across the country to improve flood and coastal defences, with London receiving a share of this. This includes £2 million for Woolwich and £1.4 million for Dagenham to better protect over 1,000 properties.
- Investing £2.7 billion for six major hospital schemes, two of which are in London. We have committed funding for Barts Health NHS Trust and Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Other Budget measures for hardworking families:
- Investing in further education, the arts and sports in schools to ensure everyone gets the best start. We will invest £1.5 billion over five years to refurbish further education colleges. The Budget also provides £29 million a year by 2023-24 to support primary school PE teaching, ensuring children are getting an active start to life and £90 million a year to introduce an Arts Premium to secondary schools in England – averaging out as £25,000 per secondary school for three years.
- Committing to a new £3 billion Skills Fund to ensure people gain the skills they need to get rewarding well-paid jobs. We will consult with people and employers on how to target the fund in the best way.
- Putting more money in peoples' pockets with an over £200 tax cut for the typical family. We will increase the National Insurance threshold to £9,500 this April, benefiting 31 million people with a typical employee saving over £100 in 2020 – the first step to reaching our ambition to increase the threshold to £12,500.
- Increasing the National Living Wage to boost the wages of the lowest paid. The National Living Wage will increase by 6.2% to £8.72 from April. The Budget commits to a new ambitious target for the National Living Wage to end low pay and extend this to workers aged 21 and over by 2024.
- Helping people to keep more of their hard-earned money by leaving full-time workers on the minimum wage £5,200 better off than in 2010. Thanks to our changes to the National Living Wage and National Insurance Threshold, someone working full time on the National Living Wage is £5,200 better off than in 2010. Our decision to freeze fuel duty for ten consecutive years has also saved the average car driver £1,200 – meaning an average worker could be up to £6,400 a year better off than in 2010.
- Axing the tampon tax now we have left the EU. We will reduce the cost of essential sanitary products for women in the UK, abolishing the tampon tax from 1 January 2021.
- Freezing fuel duty for a tenth year in a row to help with the cost of living. We will freeze fuel duty for the tenth year in a row saving the average car driver a cumulative £1,200 compared to Labour's plan.
- Freezing duty rates on beer, spirits, wine and cider helping with the cost of living. This will be only the second time in almost 20 years a government has frozen all these duties.
- Creating an entitlement to Neonatal Leave and Pay to support parents with the stress and anxiety of having a baby in neonatal care. For employees whose babies spend an extended period of time in neonatal care we will provide up to 12 weeks paid leave.
- Setting out an ambitious package to build quality homes this country needs. The Budget announces £9.5 billion for the Affordable Homes Programme helping to prevent homelessness and help people to get on the housing ladder and taking the total funding to £12.2 billion from 2021-22. This will be the largest cash investment in affordable housing in a decade. We will also publish a White Paper on planning in line with our aim to support at least a million more homes
- Creating an additional £1 billion fund to remove unsafe cladding so residents feel safe and secure. Having taken expert advice, we will provide this additional funding for buildings above 18 meters to ensure people feel safe in their homes.
Key regional statistics:
- Employment: There are 967,000 more people in employment in the London since 2010, meaning more families with the security of a regular wage.
- Unemployment: The unemployment rate in London has fallen by 5.0 points since 2010.
- Tax cuts: We are providing a tax cut for 4.6 million people in London this year, helping people to keep more of their own money – and lifting 157,000 people out of paying Class 1 and Class 4 NICs altogether.
- National Living Wage: There are 187,000 people in London having a pay rise in 2020 thanks to our increase to the National Living Wage, helping to boost the pay of the lowest paid.
