Sajid Javid’s 2020 Budget: what do we know?

Chancellor Sajid Javid says billions of pounds will be invested “across the country” in the next Budget.

Setting the date of the Budget for 11 March, he said the Treasury will “prioritise the environment” and make use of low borrowing rates to spend on public services. The Sun says his measures are designed to “reward” the Northern and Midlands seats that voted Tory in the last election.

The Guardian adds that Javid’s plans to “ramp up investment spending by billions of pounds” will allow the government to borrow for capital projects, with health and the cost of living also prioritised.

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The Budget is also expected to feature an increase in the threshold at which people start paying national insurance contributions, investment in new hospitals and the training of new police officers.

Politics Home says the Chancellor has “plenty of room” to build on Tory manifesto spending pledges after the party promised just £2.6 billion extra cash during the election compared to Labour’s £83 billion. However, John McDonnell, Labour's shadow chancellor, said he doubted whether the government would deliver on its promises.

Announcing the date of the Budget during a visit to Trafford Park Metrolink in Manchester, the chancellor said: “People across the country have told us that they want change. We’ve listened and will now deliver.

“With this Budget we will unleash Britain’s potential – uniting our great country, opening a new chapter for our economy and ushering in a decade of renewal.”

A Treasury source told the Daily Mail: “The election delivered a clear mandate to deliver on the agenda of levelling up opportunity in left behind parts of the country. That is about infrastructure and education, but also about changing the whole way we do economic policy in this country.”

The BBC’s Faisal Islam says “a rewiring of the Treasury is in the works”. He adds that “the election result gives a Commons majority and a mandate to act confidently and decisively”.

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