{"id":118781,"date":"2018-10-29T10:34:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T09:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk?p=118781&preview=true&preview_id=118781"},"modified":"2018-10-29T10:34:45","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T09:34:45","slug":"political-headlines-budget-brexit-universal-credit-mental-health-and-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/political-headlines-budget-brexit-universal-credit-mental-health-and-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"Political Headlines – Budget: Brexit, Universal Credit, mental health and roads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s political headlines are dominated by the Budget, with warnings about a no-deal Brexit derailing spending plans, Labour’s call for the Budget to halt Universal Credit, new spending on roads, broadband, and trees and a funding boost for mental health.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

No-deal Brexit will put Budget spending plans at risk, Hammond warns<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The Daily Telegraph<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that Philip Hammond is to warn that the tens of billions of pounds of new spending commitments announced in today\u2019s Budget will be put at risk by a no-deal Brexit. He warned that if this happened, he would have to hold an emergency budget in order to set out a \u2018different strategy for the future\u2019, transforming the UK into a Singapore-style low-tax, low-tariff economy.\u00a0The Sun<\/em>\u00a0adds<\/a>\u00a0that Hammond is also set to announce the release of a new 50p coin to commemorate Brexit which will bear the motto \u2018Friendship With All Nations\u2019.<\/p>\n

Labour calls for Budget to halt Universal Credit rollout<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The Guardian\u00a0<\/em>says<\/a>\u00a0that Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell will urge MPs to vote against the Budget unless it commits to halt the rollout of Universal Credit. He accused Hammond of \u2018callous complacency\u2019 for not acknowledging the problems with the benefit. As the paper notes, there have been hints that extra money for Universal Credit is to be announced.<\/p>\n

New spending on roads, broadband and trees<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The BBC\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that the Budget will contain a range of spending on roads. Highways England is to receive \u00a325.5bn between 2020 and 2025 for major road projects, mostly from vehicle excise duty, with a further \u00a33.5bn for councils to spend on major local routes. Other announcements include \u00a3420m for potholes and \u00a3150m to improve junctions. The\u00a0Daily<\/em>\u00a0Mail<\/em>\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0that Hammond plans a \u00a3250m fund to connect rural schools and libraries to super-fast broadband.\u00a0The Times<\/em>\u00a0adds<\/a>\u00a0that a \u00a360m plan to plant new trees is also set to be announced.<\/p>\n

\u00a32bn funding boost for mental health<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The Times<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that the Budget will contain a \u00a32bn funding increase for mental health services as part of the NHS funding settlement. The new money will fund measures including mental health units in schools, specialist crisis teams for young people, mental health support teams in A&Es and a new fleet of mental health ambulances.<\/p>\n

Tech firms to be given deadline to pay more tax<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The\u00a0Financial Times\u00a0<\/em>says<\/a>\u00a0that Philip Hammond is to set a deadline for large technology companies to pay more tax in the UK. The paper does not expect him to announce a digital sales tax, but claims that he will set out a timetable for action and will make it clear that the UK will act unilaterally if there is no international agreement on the issue.<\/p>\n

\u2018Dutch-style\u2019 pension reforms to be consulted on<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The Daily Telegraph<\/em>\u00a0expects<\/a>\u00a0the Budget to contain a consultation on \u2018Dutch-style\u2019 pension reforms, in which thousands of members pay into a single pot. The \u2018collective defined contribution\u2019 schemes reduce risk by pooling incomes, can secure higher payments, and give members a \u2018target\u2019 for retirement income rather than a guaranteed level.<\/p>\n

Hammond to target national insurance paid by self-employed<\/span>
\n<\/strong>In an\u00a0exclusive<\/a>,\u00a0The Sun<\/em>\u00a0hits out at the news that Philip Hammond is to go ahead with plans to target self-employed workers who pay themselves through private companies, avoiding having to pay national insurance contributions. Backbench MP Steve Baker warns that this would \u2018destroy entrepreneurial spirit\u2019 in the country.<\/p>\n

Town centres \u2018have to change\u2019, Hammond says<\/span>
\n<\/strong>According<\/a>\u00a0to the\u00a0Daily Mail<\/em>, Philip Hammond said yesterday that the rise of Internet shopping meant that \u2018our high streets have to change\u2019 and become \u2018smaller\u2019, with the areas around them redeveloped for housing. He will announce a \u00a3650m Future High Streets Fund and a \u00a3900m cut in business rates for independent retailers.<\/p>\n

It’s Budget day! Don’t miss anything that matters to you, sign up for the free Autumn Budget summary<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s political headlines are dominated by the Budget, with warnings about a no-deal Brexit derailing spending plans, Labour’s call for the Budget to halt Universal Credit, new spending on roads, broadband, and trees and a funding boost for mental health.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":412,"featured_media":118782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7367,3694,7271],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118781"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118784,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118781\/revisions\/118784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}