Economy Flashcards
What have we done with the personal allowance?
Doubled it from £6,475 under Labour to £12,000. This has taken a record number of low-paid workers out of paying income tax.
What have we done with the National Living Wage?
Consistently raised it. It will reach £10.50 an hour by 2024, giving a pay rise of £4,000 to 4 million people.
What is the National Living Wage?
Statutory minimum hourly payment for all workers over 25. Calculated as a % of medium earnings, aiming to reach 66% of median earnings by 2024. the Living Wage Foundation welcomed its introduction as a ‘pay rise for low paid workers’, but wish to see their ‘Real Living Wage’ of £9.30 an hour introduced instead (it also has a London weighting).
What is the difference between the Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage?
Minimum Wage covers workers under 25. It is a negotiated settlement based on recommendations from businesses and trade unions.
What is the government’s approach to borrowing?
No borrowing for day-to-day spending, but only to invest responsibly in infrastructure across the country that will increase productivity and wages. No public sector net investment that averages more than 3% of GDP. If debt interest reaches 6% of revenue, we will re-assess this.
What is the UK’s general government deficity?
£25.5 billion - 1.2% of GDP. The lowest it has been since 2002. In 2019, it was 1.8% below the Maastricht reference value of 3.0% set out in the Protocol on the Excessive Debt Procedure. The year ending March 2019 was the 3rd consecutive year the deficit has been below this reference value.
What was the general government deficit when the Conservatives came to power in 2010?
10% of GDP.
What is the UK’s general government gross debt?
£1,821.3 billion - 85.2% of GDP. The debt rose by £57.7 billion since the end of the March 2018 year. But, GDP is currently growing at a greater rate than the government’s debt.
What does our approach to borrowing mean for the general government debt?
It will be lower at the end of the Parliament.
What does the 2020 Budget mean for the National Insurance threshold?
It has risen to £9,500, benefiting 31 million people with a typical employee saving over £100. We intend to raise it to £12,500.
What does the 2020 Budget mean for the National Living Wage?
A 62.% increase to £8.72. It will be extended to workers aged 21 and over by 2024.
What does the 2020 Budget mean for the tampon tax?
Axing the tampon tax as of 1 January 2021 to reduce the cost of essential sanitary products.
What does the 2020 Budget mean for fuel duty?
Freezing it for the 10th year in a low to help reduce the cost of living. This has saved the average motorist a cumulative £1,200.
What is fuel duty?
Fuel Duty is included in the price you pay for petrol, diesel and other fuels used in vehicles or for heating.
What does the 2020 Budget mean for alcohol duties?
Freeze beer, cider, wine and spirits duties.
What does the 2020 Budget mean for taxes on shopping and services?
The 2nd time in almost 20 years that a government has frozen all of these duties.
What does the 2020 Budget mean for neonatal leave?
This Government will also create an entitlement to Neonatal Leave and Pay to support parents with the stress and anxiety of having a baby in neonatal care. For employees whose babies spend an extended period of time in neonatal care, we will provide up to 12 weeks’ paid leave.
What does the Budget 2020 mean for R&D?
Increasing R&;D tax credits to significantly increase investment. A target of making private R&D investment 2.4% of GDP by 2027. Increase the rate of R&D expenditure from 12% to 13%. Consult on whether to allow additional costs to qualify for R&D tax reliefs.
What does the Budget 2020 mean for business loans?
We will extend the British Business Bank’s Start-Up Loans programme, supporting up to 10,000 additional loans up and down the country.
What does the Budget 2020 mean for exporters?
Increasing the lending capacity of UK Export Finance. An additional £2 billion for UKEF. A new £2 billion lending facility for protects supporting clean growth, and an extra £1 billion to support UK defence and secufrity foods.
What does the Budget 2020 mean for business rates?
Stores with a rateable value of under £51,000 will no longer pay business rates. Sectors currently outside of the business rates discount scheme (leisure, gyms, nighclubs, B&Bs, etc.) will have the 100% retail discount extended to them for the coming year.
What does the Budget 2020 mean for Entrepreneurs’ Relief?
Changed into Business Asset Disposal Relief. Reduce the limit on eligible gains to £1 million (as recommended by the Federation of Small Businesses) to focus support for SME owners. Over 80% of those using the relief are unaffected.
What is Business Asset Disposal Relief?
You may be able to pay less Capital Gains Tax when you sell (or ‘dispose of’) all or part of your business. Business Asset Disposal Relief means you’ll pay tax at 10% on all gains on qualifying assets.
Since 2010, how many people have we helped into work every day?
Over 1,000 a day.
Describe the jobs we have created since 2010.
The majority are high-quality full-time jobs outside of London and the South East.
What have we done in regard to NI Contributions for young people?
Abolished employers’ NI Contributions for under-21s and apprentices under 25.
What have we promised not to raise?
Income Tax, National Insurance, or VAT.
By raising the NI Contribution threshold to £12,500, how much would the average person save?
£500
What is the government’s approach to ending the disability employment gap?
We will reduce it by helping disabled people into work, increasing SEND funding, and supporting disabled people of all ages to get careers advice, internships, and support to transition into work.
What is the UK’s status in commercial shipbuilding?
3rd in the global yacht-building rankings. In 2019, the leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine sector grew by 1.7%, growing for the 8th year in a row.
How are we supporting shipbuilding?
Building a fleet of 5 Type 31 warships in the UK. BEIS and DoIT are launching a new Maritime Trade and Investment Plan to keep the shipbuilding sector going.
Unemployment is at its lowest level since ____
1974
How many jobs have we created since 2010?
3.7 million
What will we do to the retail discount?
Expand it from 33% to 50% for businesses with a rateable value of less than £51,000. This is a £280 million tax cut for small business. The average local shop would save £1,400.
Extend it to small music venues and cinemas. Costs £5 million.
Introduce a new £1,000 rate relief for pubs. A £18 million tax cut.
How will we save pubs and post offices?
Support community groups who want to buy back their local pubs and post offices with a £150 million fund and a 9 month ban on the sale of other bidders.
We introduced the Localism Act in 2011 to halt the decline in pubs, village shops, sports grounds and other facilities by allowing them to be nominated as ‘assets of community value’. This gave community groups the ability to pause the sale of an asset of community value for six months if it went on the market.
How will we support community groups?
Introduce a £150 million Community Ownership Fund which will help groups with the cost of preparing a bid, whether legal, commercial or planning-related, and co-fund some deserving purchases. The fund will be open to all community groups and we expect councils to facilitate bids.
We will prevent owners from making agreements to sell to anyone other than a community group before the moratorium is up.
As they are permitted to at the moment (though the sale cannot be formally completed until after the moratorium period.) This would be a form of preferred-bidder status for communities, though they could still be outbid at the end of the period if someone else came up with a higher offer.
What is our Towns Fund plan?
A £3.6 billion Towns Fund to improve local transport links and boost broadband connectivity in 100 towns. We have provided funding to the local authorities in the shortlisted towns to start preparing bids that best reflect the individual needs and circumstances of their area.
What is our Future High Streets Fund?
We expanded the Future High Streets Fund, confirming that another 50 towns in England will be given a share of £1 billion to redevelop their high streets, taking the total receiving support to 100 places.
