2020 BUDGET AT A GLANCE

CORONAVIRUS

■ £5billion fund to back NHS during crisis

■ Those told to self-isolate entitled to statutory sick pay of £94.25 a week even if they have no symptoms

■ Sufferers can get sick notes via 111 rather than going to the GP

■ Self-employed ‘gig’ economy workers get benefits fast-track

■ Firms with fewer than 250 staff refunded for sick pay payments for two weeks

■ Small firms can access ‘business interruption’ loans of up to £1.2million

■ Business rates scrapped for small shops, restaurants and entertainment venues in England for the next 12 months

ECONOMY

■ Huge emergency interest rate cut - down 0.5 points to 0.25 per cent

■ Higher borrowing: more than £125billion added to Britain’s deficit

■ Office for Budget Responsibility reveals a £14billion bonus from leaving the EU

■ Economy to grow by 1.1 per cent - revised down from 1.4 per cent a year ago

■ Debt as a percentage of GDP forecast to be lower at

the end of the Parliament than now

TAXES

■ Tax cut for 31million workers: national insurance threshold up from £8,632 to £9,500

■ Taxes on beer, wine, spirits and cider frozen and business rate discount for pubs increased to £5,000

■ 27p on a packet of 20 cigarettes

■ Fuel duty frozen again

■ 5 per cent tax on sanitary products - the tampon tax scrapped

■ Entrepreneur’s tax relief slashed to £1million from the current £10million

■ Proposed cut on corporation tax shelved

■ Entire high street business rates regime to be reviewed

■ VAT on digital publications scrapped

■ Stamp duty surcharge for foreign buyers levied at 2pc from April 2021

ENVIRONMENT

■ Climate levy on businesses’ gas use to rise

■ Tax relief abolished on cheaper ‘red diesel’ used by

construction firms, but farmers spared

■ Extra £500million for flood defences

■ New tax on firms making plastic that does not contain 30 per cent recycled material

■ 30,000 hectares of trees to be planted

INFRASTRUCTURE

■ More than £600billion spent on roads, rail, broadband and housing by mid-2025

■ £27billion roads building plan including two-mile tunnel near Stonehenge

■ £2.5bn will be available to fix potholes and resurface roads

PUBLIC SERVICES

■ £6billion in extra NHS funding over five years to pay for staff recruitment and hospital upgrades

■ Help for NHS consultants: 98 per cent taken out of pension tax taper

■ Migrants charged £624 a year for using the NHS

■ £5billion on better broadband

■ Further education colleges get £1.5billion to upgrade buildings