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Is this a Budget that
delivers on our plan for working people in the North West?
THE UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne has
used his Summer Budget to set out the next stage in delivering on the
government's plan for working people in the North West. This Budget has
delivered a Tax cut for 3.1 million people in the North West, taken an
additional 65,000 out of Income Tax all together, announced new
opportunities for up to 500,000 apprentices and offers more childcare to working
parents. Since 2010, there are 163,000 more people in work in the North West and
98,900 more businesses. Putting transport and devolution at the heart of his
plans to take the Northern Powerhouse to the next level, the Budget committed
£30 million to turn Transport for the North into a statutory body, announced
that 3 City Regions are making progress on radical devolution deals and handed
even more powers to the people of Greater Manchester.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said:- "My budget today puts
security 1st. It delivers economic security so Britain lives within its means,
financial security for families, and national security for all. A new National
Living Wage for 210,000 people, and an Income Tax cut for millions more
provides new support for people right across the North. At the heart of our
plans is an ambition to build a world class transport system, to hand over new
powers to local leaders and to invest in science, education and skills. This is
a Budget that delivers on our plan for working people in the North West and sets
out the next steps in building the Northern Powerhouse."
Measures announced in the Budget will support working people with:-
► A Tax cut for 3.1 million people in the North West thanks to a rise in
the Personal Allowance and an increase in the higher rate threshold. 65,000 more
people will be taken out of Income Tax altogether.
► A significant pay rise for 210,000 working people across the North West
with the introduction of the National Living Wage.
► A doubling of the amount of free childcare for working parents of three
and four year olds; meaning thousands of families in the North West will now
receive 30 hours of free childcare a week.
► Thousands of family homes in the North West taken out of Inheritance Tax
altogether as a result of the increase in the Inheritance Tax allowance.
► New opportunities for up to 500,000 apprentices as part of ambitious
plans to grow the number of apprentices across the country.
The Budget also backs businesses in the region with:-
► A Tax cut for businesses across the North West with a cut in the main
rate of corporation Tax to 19% in 2017 and 18% in 2018.
► An extra £1,000 for every business thanks to an increase in the
Employment Allowance to £3,000.
► Further support for 10,000 businesses in the North West from a
significant increase in the Annual Investment Allowance to £200,000.
And it included specific announcements to directly support the North West:-
► Greater Manchester is to get further devolution including a new Greater
Manchester Land Commission and Mayoral powers over fire services and planning.
£30 million for an ambitious new transport devolution package for the whole of
the North which will give Transport for the North statutory status and
responsibilities.
As part of this
investment the government is now committing to:-
► devolving far reaching powers over transport to the North's Mayor led,
City Regions, to deliver fully integrated public transport systems supported by
contactless payment technology
► establishing TfN as a statutory body with statutory duties to set out
its transport policies and investment priorities in a long term transport
strategy for the North.
► appointing a Chair, Chief Executive and executive team for TfN by the
end of 2015 to accelerate TfN's work programme, with an update on the Northern
Transport.
► Working with TfN to advance the introduction of Oyster style smart and
integrated ticketing across bus, tram, metro and rail services throughout the
region, making this on of the top priorities for TfN's newly accelerated work
programme.
► working with TfN to push forward plans to transform East West rail and
road connections via TransNorth and options for a new TransPennine tunnel.
► The Chancellor also announced £5.8m for the A66 Highways Maintenance
Scheme in Bolton, as part of a further round of the "pinchpoint"
fund, which addresses local congestion and bottlenecks and £3m for Tameside
Metropolitan Borough Council to make structural improvements to walls around
local roads.
► The creation of 4 'Connected Health Cities' across the
North, assembling experts and technology to provide better care for patients by
promoting innovation through using data. This builds on the £20m invested in
Health North earlier this year and which will go live in Autumn 2015.
► The government is looking at extending Mersey Gateway bridge toll
discounts to residents of Chester West and Chester and Warrington, with final
decisions to be made in early 2016. In addition, the government will work with
relevant local partners carrying out a review of the tolls on Mersey Tunnels.
► New Regius Professorships like that established in the University of
Manchester will be set up in order to recognise excellence in universities
across the UK. The competition will be launched later this year, with a view to
making awards to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday in 2016.
► The government is inviting bids for a new round of Enterprise Zones like
those already up and running successfully in the North West such as at
Manchester and Mersey Waters.
► £90 million to extend the Coastal Communities Fund, from which the North
West has already benefitted significantly.
These measures build on investment and support for the North West already
committed to by the previous Government and reaffirmed today, including:-
► The commitment to invest £4.5 billion in transport infrastructure in the
North West over this Parliament.
► By the end of this parliament, the government will have delivered, on
the Northern and TransPennine Express routes, free WIFI for passengers, an
increase in capaCity of more than ⅓ and 200 new services every single day and a
modern fleet of new trains to replace the old and outdated Pacer trains.
► By the end of this parliament the Northern Hub programme will also be
complete; delivering significant improvements to rail journeys from as far as
Newcastle and Hull in the East to Chester and Liverpool in the West.
► Transforming road connections is also an important part of building a
Northern Powerhouse; by the end of this parliament the government will have
delivered 4 lane smart motorways on northern sections of the M1 and M6 and M62
around the North West of Manchester. The government will also have developed a
scheme to extend 4 lane smart motorway along the M62 route all the way from
Leeds to Manchester. The M60 will also be upgraded to smart motorway.
► The government is also exploring options for improving East West
connections on the A66 and A69, and exploring the potential for an entirely new
road, the "TransPennine Tunnel", between Manchester
and Sheffield.
► Key roads across the North West will be upgraded, including the M6 and
the M62. Alongside this the government is also committed to improving
connections to international gateways, including the new A6 to Manchester
Airport relief road, and improved road connections between:- Greater Manchester
and Liverpool City Region (Merseyside), as part of the Atlantic Gateway.
► On top of this, the government remains absolutely committed to pushing
forward with plans for delivering High Speed 2 (HS2) to the North by the early
2030's, which will deliver transformational step; changes in journey times,
capaCity and connectivity for Cities across the region. The government will
bring forward a Hybrid Bill for the 1st stage of Phase 2 in this parliament.
► The government will support the North to develop the skills that it
needs through development funding for a National Onshore Oil and Gas College
with its Centre, in Blackpool.
► The government will invest in supporting the science strengths of the
North, including funding the £235m Sir Henry Royce Institute.
After this was anounced the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Merseyside,
West Cheshire and Wigan Chairman Chris Burgess said:- "The Government is
offering Liverpool City Region real devolution of real powers in exchange for
the introduction of an elected mayor. This is a genuine opportunity, but in
order to reap the benefits of devolution and help drive forward the Northern
Powerhouse agenda, it is important that the Councils comprising Liverpool City
Region combined authority put aside their differences and work together. It is
now essential that the local authorities act in a business like manner in order
to expedite the progression of devolved powers to the region."
Mr Burgess also commented on other areas of the Budget announcement, saying:-
"We welcome further reductions to corporation Tax , measures to improve the
annual investment allowance and also to boost regional growth, particularly
investment in road infrastructure. The focus on productivity is positive, but we
need details of how raising skills will be achieved via the apprenticeship levy
on large firms. Planning reforms are also critical to raising productivity and
again we look forward to seeing the proposals on Friday. On the introduction of
the living wage it is important to note that our research indicates that most
small businesses pay in excess of the living wage. They understand the important
role staff pay to the success of their businesses and want to reward them
accordingly. However, the issue is that these increases are imposed, by
government, uniformly rather than introduced on a business by business basis.
The employment allowance increase, Corporation Tax cuts and fuel duty freeze
will all help, but are unlikely to off set the new National Living Wage rate for
over 25's. At the very least annual increases should be set according to the
recommendations of the independent Low Pay Commission (LPC). The danger is that
measures designed to benefit employees could become a barrier to job creation in
the first place."
So how does the budget affect you? Please email your views and feelings to:-
news24@southportreporter.com and let us know. |
