March 2010 United Kingdom budget

The March 2010 United Kingdom Budget, official known as Budget 2010: Securing the recovery, was delivered by Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 24 March 2010.[1]

 () March 2010 United Kingdom Budget
Presented24 March 2010 (Wednesday)
Parliament54th
PartyLabour
ChancellorAlistair Darling
Total revenue£541 billion
Total expenditures£704 billion
Deficit£163 billion
‹ 2009

The budget speech outlined the Labour Government's fiscal policies prior to the expected 2010 general election, which had to be called before July.

The Budget's main headlines included:

  • A one-off "bank payroll tax" on bankers bonus payments, projected to be worth £2bn[2]
  • £11bn of savings across Government and a further £5bn savings from targeted spending
  • Introduce a new right to open a basic bank account[3]
  • Above-inflation increases to alcohol and tobacco duties, with a pledge to redefine strong ciders in September 2010
  • To reduce a previously announced fuel duty increase in April 2010, and introduce small increases at intervals
  • Temporary increase in small business rate relief
  • Threshold for stamp duty raised from £125,000 to £250,000 for first-time buyers for two years, and increased stamp duty on homes over £1,000,000 to 5%
  • Pledge of an increase in future ISA savings limits to keep pace with inflation, and confirmed previously announced increase in ISA savings limits
  • Introduction of a Tax break for the British video games sector

The Chancellor aimed for public sector net borrowing to fall to 8.5% of GDP by 2011-12, and 4.0% by 2014-15. Public sector net debt was projected to increase to 73% of GDP by 2012-13.

The Treasury published the Finance Act 2010 on 1 April, running to 240 pages.[4] After the General Election was called on 6 April, the Chartered Institute of Taxation expressed concern at the lack of time for debate on complex measures.[5] In the event, many of the clauses announced in the Budget speech were dropped from the Bill before Parliament was dissolved.[6]

Taxes
Receipts 2010-10 Revenues (£bn)
Income Tax 146
Value Added Tax (VAT) 78
National Insurance 97
Excise duties 46
Corporate Tax 42
Council Tax 26
Business rates 25
Other 81
Total Government revenue 541

Spending
Department 2010-10 Expenditure (£bn)
Social protection 196
Health 122
Education 89
Debt interest 43
Defence 40
Public order and safety 36
Personal social services 33
Housing and Environment 27
Transport 22
Industry, agriculture and employment 20
Other 74
Total Government spending 704

References
  1. "Budget 2010". BBC News. 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  2. HM Treasury, Budget 2010 Annex C
  3. Chancellor set to announce basic bank accounts for all Archived 2013-01-16 at archive.today allaboutmoney.com, 24 September 2012
  4. Finance Bill out with just days to make it law Archived 2010-04-05 at the Wayback Machine, Accountancy Age, 1 Apr 2010
  5. Just a few hours of scrutiny for Finance Bill as Election announced Archived 2012-07-19 at archive.today, Accountancy Age, 6 Apr 2010
  6. Finance Bill carved out in deadline scramble Archived 2010-04-12 at the Wayback Machine, Accountancy Age, 7 Apr 2010
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