Budget at-a-glance
Price of cigarettes to increase by 8p
13 April 2012
Gordon Brown's speech lasted 54 minutes. Here are the main points of his 2004 Budget...
Taxes
- Beer up 1p a pint
- Wine up 4p a bottle
- Cider and spirit duties frozen
- Cigarettes up 8p for 20
- Diesel up 2.4p litre
- Petrol up 1.9p litre, deferred until September 2004
- Lower duty rises for cleaner fuels
- Betting and stamp duty frozen
- Corporation and capital gains tax frozen
- Greater exemption from inheritance tax
- VAT registration threshold to be £58,000
- Freeze on rates on air passenger duty, insurance premium tax, vehicle excise duty, climate change levy and aggregates levy
Health
- NHS to get 10% cash rise every year to 2008
Funding
- Defence budget will rise in real terms
- Home office budget not frozen
- Transport department increased
Education
- £8.5 billion extra funding by 2008
- Extra funds for science and education
- Every secondary school to be refurbished by 2015
- Sure Start budget to rise by 17%
- Education funding to grow by 4.4% a year
Pensioners
- Extra £100 for over 70s
Inland Rev and Customs
- Customs and Excise to merge with Inland Revenue Department, with loss of 14,000 civil service jobs by 2008
- Inland Rev and Customs budget down by 5% by 2008
The economy
- Britain enjoying longest period of sustained growth for 200 years - since the Industrial Revolution.
- Economy grew in 2003 by 2.3%, with average growth over four years of 2.5%
- Closer to full employment for a generation
- Mortgage rates lowest for 40 years
- Domestic demand to grow 3.5% this year
- Manufacturing to grow 2% this year and next
- Inflation forecast 1.75% this year, 2% next
- Growth forecast 3-3.5% in 2005, 2.5%-3% 2006
- House building must rise substantially. More public sector land released for housing
- Rise in consultations on affordable housing
- No further euro assessment this year. Further assessment next budget
Borrowing
- In national interest to borrow for investment
- Current Budget -21.3% billion this year
- Overall annual surplus average £11bn
- Borrowing this year to hit £37.5 billion, falling to £23 billion by 2009
- Debt this year is 33% of national income
- Net debt lower than main competitors
- £6 billion extra to fight terrorism
- National debt is well within our fiscal rules
