Sheffield residents have their say on Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget that aims to 'protect jobs and livelihoods.'

What is the budget?

Every year, the Chancellor of the exchequer makes a budget statement to the house of commons which outlines the current state of the economy and the government’s plans for raising or lowering taxes and support to help low-income groups.

It also includes a forecast of how the UK economy could perform in the next few years.

What was announced in the budget?

Rishi Sunak began by talking about a three-part plan which aims to protect jobs and people’s livelihoods.

He said that he would do whatever it takes to support businesses and people through this stage in the pandemic and highlighted that the road to recovery would start by fixing public finances.

In his plan, Mr Sunak confirmed that the current furlough scheme would be extended to the end of September, as will support for the self-employed.

Employees will continue to receive 80 per cent of their wages, and employers will be asked to contribute 10 per cent from July and 20 per cent from August until September when the scheme comes to a close.

Business rates for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors is set to continue until the end of June and will be discounted by two thirds for the remaining nine months of the year.

Secondly, support for the self-employed will also continue until September, with a fourth grant covering February to April at 80 per cent of average trading profits and a fifth and final grant from May onwards.

In the third step of the plan, Rishi Sunak said The Universal Credit uplift of £20 a week will continue for a further six months, well beyond the end of this national lockdown, he says.

“We will provide working tax credit claimants with equivalent support. We will do this with a one-off payment of £500,” he says.

Other key points

Apprentice payments for business are being doubled to £3,000 – for all new apprentices of any age. This incentive aims to get more people into work in a bid to tackle unemployment rates across the country.

The stamp duty holiday on properties worth up to £500,000 will be extended from the end of March until the end of June – with no duty on homes worth up to £250,000 for another three months. The threshold will then return to the usual level of £125,000 from October.

Personal income tax thresholds will be frozen from next year until 2026 - at £12,570 for the basic rate and at £50,270 for the higher rate.

Planned increases in duties on beer, cider, spirits and wine as well as fuel will be cancelled.

This is what people in Sheffield have said about the financial announcement:

Oliver Seabarron said: “Whilst the budget is disappointing in so many ways, it’s great to see real change on CIT. This was completely out of sight only a few years ago. Well done to those who have helped shift the narrative.”

Paul Oliver said: “Absolutely terrible budget. Another whitewash to make it look like a proper investment. Poor, poor Tory spin. But the many will believe it.”

@AnonEconomics said: “I give budget part 1 a score of 7/10, not keen on the 95% mortgage idea, seems like shifting emphasis off home building which is by far the more important issue, other than that, I’m reasonably happy with it, not much big stimulus but I think perhaps that’s the right call at the minute.

“Now comes the big, contentious issue, how much we ought to worry about the new public debt. I can almost guarantee me and Rishi aren’t so much in agreement, he’s already said he’s looking at a 100% cap on borrowing which I think is much too low, I’d be happy to see maybe 120, 140, perhaps a little more than that, but obviously it has to be well spent.

“Corp tax increase is a good move, shows Britain is not playing race to the bottom with taxes, like the idea of small business rate as well, but as with all taxes, a key issue is who is actually paying them, but that’s not so much a subject for the budget.

“This super deduction is certainly ambitious, I think the number is a little too big, but an increase was a good idea, scrapping alcohol duty rise also smart, fuel less so, no green specific policies here yet, but here they come.

“Would have liked more capital for infrastructure bank but otherwise green policies sound good, would have liked carbon tax progress, but perhaps that was unlikely really.

He added: “I’m giving 4/10 for the rest of the budget, nothing too damaging really, but the focus is wrong, lots of gaps and lots of cronyism, doesn’t suggest he’s grasped the magnitude of scarring and transition we have to go through.

“Will give it a read through, but it’s a solid ‘meh’ from me on most of the budget, I think Starmer is handling this unprepared statement quite well, solid on the facts and with a rare bit of sparkle.”

Dave Atkin said: “Sunak just blew Labour away, brilliant budget continuing the great work done on vaccines.”

A Joel_WW18 said: “The budget is woeful, but I appreciate that working people won’t be taxed more and corporation tax is being increased to 25 per cent.”

To read the entire budget, go to www.gov.uk/