SUMMER BUDGET 2015: Key points

July 8, 2015
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Key points from the Budget:

New National Living Wage of £7.20 for all workers aged over 25 to be introduced next April and to reach £9 an hour by 2020

Cuts in National Insurance for small firms to help them pay for living wage

More devolution to Northern cities and to Midlands as well as Cornwall

Discussions on devolution of services to Sheffield, Liverpool and West Yorkshire

£30m for new body to promote integrated transport – including use of Oyster cards – in the north of England

Elected mayors will have say on extension of Sunday trading hours

Increase in defence budget every year to meet 2% commitment to NATO

Deficit will be cut at same pace as in last Parliament

Borrowing for this year revised down to £65.9bn

Budget surplus planned by 2019-20 – a year later than forecast

UK economy grew by an 3% in 2014 – higher than forecast – and is forecast to grow by 2.4% this, the same as predicted in March, followed by 2.3% and 2.4% in the two following years

1 million extra jobs predicted to be created by 2020

Climate Change Levy exemption for renewable electricity to be removed.

National Insurance employment allowance for small firms to be increased by 50% to £3,000 from 2016

Public sector pay rises pegged at 1% a year for next four years

£1.5bn from clampdown on non-doms from 2017

Corporation tax to be cut to 19% in 2017 then 18% in 2020

Claims management companies will be more strictly regulated and insurance premium tax will be raised to 9.5% from November

New roads fund to be launched funded by vehicle excise duty

Fuel duty remains frozen for this year

New apprenticeship levy on larger businesses for the UK to 'raise its game' and address the skills gap

£50m to expand the number of cadet units in state schools to 500 and an extra helicopter for the Children's Air Ambulance

From 2017, there will be a new £175,000 allowance on homes left to children or grandchildren, allowing £1m to be passed on tax free.

Working age benefits frozen for four years

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