Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed funding to kickstart HS2 tunnelling from Old Oak Common to Euston in a package of measures to invest in infrastructure.
The Chancellor also committed an extra £700m for school building next year and £1bn to tackle the backlog of repairs and upgrades at the country’s hospitals.
Reeves also said confirmed an already trailed extra £500m to deliver 5,000 more new affordable homes.
The cash would be a top-up to the existing Affordable Homes Programme and comes ahead of the Government’s Housing Strategy due to be set out in detail in the Spring.
In a set of big Budget reforms, she set out plans to raise taxes by £40bn, the bulk coming from changes to employers national insurance contributions, expected to claw in £25bn.
Among other big tax changes, capital gains and inheritance taxes were raised, along with business rates and pension tax. To fund greater spending on infrastructure the Chancellor confirmed changes to fiscal rules to allow the value of assets to be calculated alongside liabilities.
Capital investment will increase by £13bn next year, taking total departmental capital spending to £131bn in 2025-26
The final HS2 5.4-mile tunnel drive to Euston from Old Oak Common is expected to cost around £1bn.
Skanska Costain Strabag JV are advanced with preparation works to launch the two final TBMs from the Old Oak Common Box towards Euston, despite uncertainty about the Euston terminus plan.
The Chancellor confirmed £1.4bn for the school rebuilding programme, including an increase of £550m this year. There is also over £2bn for maintenance for schools in the education settlement.
This will allow 100 project plans to begin delivery across England next year and begin to tackle the crumbling school and college buildings across the country.
Health capital spending will be raised next year by £1bn to £3.1bn. This extra cash will be channelled into tackling dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete and making inroads into the existing backlog of critical maintenance, repairs and upgrades across the NHS estate
An extra £500m will be injected into delivering road repairs, amounting to a 50% hike to £1.6bn next year, alongside a commitment to fund the transpennine rail route upgrade and delivering the next phases of East West Rail.
An extra £200m will be given to Metro Mayors for local transport in 2025/26, bringing City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements to over £1.3bn.
Investment in building safety remediation works will rise to over £1bn in 2025-26. This includes new investment to speed up remediation of social housing.
On the green economy the Government said it would also fund 11 new green hydrogen projects with more cash for the warm homes programme.
The Government will also take the first step towards a Warm Homes Plan, committing an initial £3.4bn towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency over the next three years.
Budget key tax changes
Employers NI contribution up from 13.8% to 15% and threshold cut from £9,100 to £5,000 to raise £25bn
Increasing employment allowance for small business from £5,000 to £10,500
Capital gains tax lower rate up from 10% to 18% and higher rate from 20% to 24%
Minimum wage to rise by 6.7% in April with rates for over-21s set to go up to £12.21 an hour
Stamp duty land surcharge for second-homes, by 2% to 5%
Freeze fuel duty next year
Income tax threshold to be allowed to rise in 28/29
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