BUDGET 2011: Chancellor George Osborne's Budget as it happened

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12 April 2012

Tory Chancellor George Osborne delivers his 2011 Budget live from the House of Commons. Follow the updates as they happen:

The Chancellor concluded his statement at 1.29pm.

Inflation rise in fuel duty planned for next week to be delayed until 2012. Fuel duty escalator that adds 1p to fuel duty on top of inflation each year to be cancelled for the rest of this Parliament.

New Fair Fuel Stabiliser to be introduced, funded by increasing the supplementary charge on North Sea oil and gas production from 20% to 32% from tomorrow.

Vehicle Excise Duty to increase in line with inflation, and frozen for heavy goods vehicles.

Tobacco duty rates to increase by 2% above inflation, as previously announced. Tobacco duty regime reformed to narrow differential between lower-cost brands and the others.

Plans to switch air passenger duty from passengers to planes have been dropped. This year's APD rise postponed for one year, and the Government will seek to impose the tax on private jets.

Personal tax allowance to rise by £630 to £8,105 in April 2012 - a real increase of £48 a year or £126 in cash terms.

Pay rise of £250 for armed forces, prison, NHS, teachers and civil servants earning under £21,000.

Clampdown on tax avoidance to raise £1 billion per year from levies including Stamp Duty, Capital Gains Tax and relief on CDs imported from Channel Islands.

Simplification of Gift Aid, including increase in benefit limits from £500 to £2,500. Gift Aid on small donations to be provided without filling forms in, benefiting charities by £240 million.

New funding to double the number of University Technical Colleges from 12 to at least 24.

The UK to become the first country in the world to introduce a carbon price floor for the power sector.

Funds provided for 21 new Enterprise Zones.

Investment of £200 million in regional railways.

Help for manufacturing to include new export credits, a technology and innovation centre and nine new university centres.

Support for Mortgage Interest scheme extended by one year to January 2013, reducing mortgage arrears for 100,000 jobless homeowners.

Small business rate relief holiday extended by one year to October 2012, at a cost of £370 million.

Reviews launched on the revenue raised by the 50p tax rate and on the taxation of very high value property.

Charge on non-domiciled taxpayers to increase from £30,000 for those here for seven years to £50,000 for those in the country for 12 years, raising more than £200 million.

Today's Plan for Growth will remove £350 million worth of regulation on businesses.

Bank Levy rate to be adjusted next year to offset the effect of Corporation Tax reduction on banks.

Corporation Tax reduced by 2% from April 2011 - rather than 1% as previously announced - and to fall by 1% in each of the next three years to reach 23%.

Government to consult on merging the operation of National Insurance and Income Tax.

More than 100 pages removed from the tax code at a stroke, said Mr Osborne.

The Budget abolishes 43 complex tax reliefs to simplify the system.

OBR central forecast is that the Government will meet its fiscal mandate of a balanced structural current budget and falling national debt by the end of the Parliament.

National debt forecast to be 60% of national income this year bedfore peaking at 71% and falling to 69% by the end of the spending review period.

Borrowing for this year to be £146 billion - below target.

Additional cost of military operations in Libya to be funded by Treasury reserve.
Asset Puchase Facility set up under Labour to remain in place.

Mr Osborne today wrote to Bank of England Governor Mervyn King to confirm Monetary Policy Committee inflation target to remain 2%, on CIP index.

OBR forecasts inflation to remain between 4% and 5% for most of this year, dropping to 2.5% next year and 2% in two years' time.

Mr Osborne said today's measures are "fiscally neutral across the period" neither raising taxes nor offering giveaways".

Mr Osborne said he does not need to ask the public for more taxes or more spending cuts.

Mr Osborne said today's Budget was "about reforming the nation's economy, so that we have enduring growth and jobs in the future".

Mr Osborne rose to deliver his second Budget to the House of Commons at 12.33pm.

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