Budget 2017: Winners and losers of Philip Hammond’s Spring Budget
Today, chancellor Philip Hammond delivered his first (and last) Spring Budget. Here are the day's winners and losers.
Read more: Budget 2017: Philip Hammond's speech in full
Winners
Tech got quite the showing in Hammond's Budget. The chancellor pledged millions of pounds of fresh funding for disruptive new technologies like robotics, electric cars and biotech along with plans to kick-start a 5G network in the UK. He also promised to invest £500m in technical training plans, a fund he called "game-changing".
Although the chancellor didn't abolish business rates, he announced £435m of measures to help ease the impact of rate rises on small businesses.
In a bid to tackle congestion, a £690m competition for local authorities will be created to get local transport up and moving – and he repeated the £220m announced in the Autumn Statement to tackle pinch points on the UK's roads.
Sterling recovered somewhat after its steep fall this morning while the FTSE edged up as markets reacted to Hammond's Budget, which gave a relatively upbeat outlook of the UK economy. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now forecasts economic growth of two per cent in 2017, sharply up from previous prediction of 1.4 per cent.
Losers
Self-employed workers are facing a tax hike after the chancellor announced he will do away with lower national insurance payments for freelancers. This group of workers will also be hit by the chancellor's move to slash the tax free dividend allowance from £5,000 to £2,000.
Despite most pubs being handed a £1,000 discount on business rates, Hammond said he won't change "previously planned upratings" to alcohol duties, meaning they're still going up. The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said this will cost pubs around £125m a year.
Savers weren't impressed by the launch of a National Savings & Investment (NS&I) three year bond that pays a 2.2 per cent return.
Low earning smokers will be the hardest hit by the government's new minimum excise tax, which will be based on a pack price of £7.35.