The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will present his Budget to Parliament on Wednesday 18th March 2015.
Here at Informed Choice, we have put together a team of Financial Planning experts to present their initial reactions and observations once the Budget is announced.
Our live blog will be regularly updated as new Budget measures are announced.
13:37 That concludes our Budget Live Blog. We will be producing our Budget Briefing Note this afternoon and it will be available to download from our website shortly.
13:30 Some big announcements for savers. Second hand annuity market coming into force from next April, a new fully flexible ISA, and a new Help To Buy ISA (save £200 towards a deposit on your first home, get a £50 top-up), plus a new personal savings allowance taking 95% of savers out of the income tax regime.
13:26 The personal income tax allowance is being raised to £11,000 from 2017/18. The higher rate income tax threshold also raised to £43,300, on route to a higher rate threshold of £50,000 (above inflation rises).
13:23 A revolutionary simplication of taxation with the abolition of the annual tax return. Big news for self-employed as class 2 National Insurance contributions are also due to be abolished in the next parliament.
13:19 £100m to be invested in driverless car technology. The first 20 housing zones are being announced in this Budget. Severn crossing tolls are being reduced from 2018. Lots of support for the North Sea Oil sector, with a package adding up to £1.3bn, offsetting fall oil revenues.
13:06 Some tough words on tax evasion and avoidance, with new criminal offences for tax evasion being introduced in the UK from tomorrow.
13:03 The pension lifetime allowance is being cut, as predicted, from £1.25m to £1m from next year, saving £600m a year. It will be indexed from 2018 onwards.
13:01 The top 1% of taxpayers will pay 27% share of total income tax bill this year!
12:49 Design of the new 12-sided £1 coin, designed by 15 year old David Pearce, is confirmed.
12:47 Osborne confirms the inflation target for the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee remains 2%, despite falling price inflation due to lower global oil prices.
12:41 OBR has revised up their UK economic growth forecasts to 2.5% this year and 2.3% next year.
12:40 A disorderly Greek exit from the eurozone raised as the biggest threat to the UK economy.
12:35 “No unfunded spending, no irresponsible extra borrowing.” Osborne continues to set the scene for this Budget, making comparisons with five years earlier.
12:34 The Chancellor opens his pre-election Budget with the statement that Britain is walking tall again.
12:29 PMQs is drawing to a close and the Budget is about to begin.
11:21 In possibly the most important news of the day, George Osborne is wearing a grey tie to present the Budget. We repeat, a grey tie!
09:59 Goodbye income tax on savings interest, if a report in The Independent is accurate. They are reporting this morning that Osborne will abolish the tax on savings income for basic rate taxpayers.
18/03/15 07:06 It’s Budget day! Martin has already been on the radio this morning, commenting for Eagle Radio. One of the biggest expected reforms is scrapping the annual paper tax return, which will be replaced by increased use of digital records.
17/03/15 20:21 If the economists are to be believed, Osborne might have some decent ‘wriggle room’ tomorrow. Low inflation as a result of lower oil prices means an annual windfall for the Treasury of around £6bn a year. How will he spend the cash? We’ll find out tomorrow.
17/03/15 15:16 George Osborne has promised no “gimmicks” or “giveaways”, but pre-election Budgets always come with the expectation of buying some votes. The BBC offers a useful roundup of pre-election Budget measures here.
17/03/15 13:49 The Sun has reported that Osborne plans to cut the pension lifetime allowance from £1.25m to £1m in his Budget speech tomorrow. Money raised by cutting the lifetime allowance will be spent on tax giveaways elsewhere, according to the newspaper.
@George_Osborne don’t cut the lifetime allowance, abolish it!! #joinedupthinking
— Nick Bamford (@nickbamford) March 17, 2015
16/03/15 14:48 Martin has recorded our first Budget commentary of the week, speaking down the line to Anthony Zahra, Head of News at Eagle Radio. Martin will be chatting again to Eagle Radio as soon as the Budget has been announced.
