Ben King
Business reporter, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Who picks up the tab for higher employers' National Insurance Contributions?

The answer is... more than three quarters of it will eventually come from workers' incomes.

The OBR reckons that just under a quarter of it will come out of company profits.

Employers will pass the rest on through lower wages and higher prices, which both eat into workers' spending power.

Alison Holt
Social affairs editor

Image source, EPA

A “massive disappointment” is how the older people’s charity, Age UK, describes the Budget.

It hoped there would be “measures to safeguard” pensioners on low and moderate incomes who are losing their annual winter fuel allowance.

In the summer, the government announced that only pensioners on the lowest incomes, who receive extra help through pension credit, would get the winter fuel payment this year.

It is worth either £200 or £300 depending on the person’s age.

Caroline Abrahams, Age UK’s charity director, says “it comes to something when the best policy option older people on tight budgets now have left is to hope and pray for a mild winter”.

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor

Image source, PA Media

The Budget is designed to remake the UK as a “clean energy superpower”, the chancellor said.

She highlighted £2.3bn for hydrogen production, £2.7bn for the nuclear plant at Sizewell and £100m for Great British Energy as well as the cash for carbon capture and storage announced earlier this month.

There were changes to taxation too. The windfall tax on oil and gas companies was raised, passenger duty on private jets was up 50% to £450 per passenger and company car tax incentives for electric vehicles were maintained.

But there was no increase to fuel duty - maintaining a freeze in place since 2010 and a 5p cut in the tax made in 2022.

Analysis last year by Carbon Brief, a climate new website, year suggested the failure to raise fuel duty in line with inflation could have increased UK carbon dioxide emissions by up to 7%.

Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an influential think tank, has weighed in on the tax and spending plans laid out in Rachel Reeves' Budget in comments posted on the institute's website, external.

Here's what he said:

• Tax is now on a path to 38.2% of GDP, the "highest level ever" in the UK
• The "first gamble" is that a big cash injection for public services will "be enough to turn performance around", but this may require more tax rises in the future if spending pressures continue
• The "second gamble" concerns extra borrowing - that the benefits will offset the costs, and therefore "a lot hinges on how well the government spends the money"
• On the increase in National Insurance contributions from employers, he cites the OBR as suggesting three quarters of the impact will be felt by employees, and adds that the rise will "increase the incentive for employers to switch to contracting with the self-employed"
• Johnson welcomes the scaling back of some inheritance tax reliefs in the Budget, but says overall there was "little in the way of serious tax reform"
• He is critical of the rise on stamp duty on second homes, saying renters will suffer - and also of the government's decision to freeze fuel duty while "claiming to be focused on tackling climate change"

A Budget stamped with Labour’s instinctspublished at 18:18 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2024

18:18 GMT 30 October 2024

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, House of Commons

This was a huge, change-making budget – one way or the other.

Don’t let anyone tell you there isn’t much difference between the main parties at Westminster; this was a Budget with Labour’s instincts and worldview stamped throughout it.

The tax rises visible from near earth orbit, self imposed borrowing rules shredded and re-written - yes, to allow more borrowing; big wads of spending for the NHS for starters.

But note one disjuncture in all this: a government with a central mission of driving economic growth, and yet projections of just that that appear stubbornly anaemic.

Oh and the insistence from Labour in the election campaign about "no plans" for tax rises beyond a select few has turned out to be comprehensive baloney; the books were worse than we thought, Labour’s mitigating plea, garnished with a we won’t do it again insistence from the chancellor in my interview with her tonight.

“This is not the sort of Budget we would want to repeat,” Rachel Reeves told me – whether you are of the same view, is your call.

A bit more now from the chancellor's interview with the BBC's Chris Mason.

Asked if the NHS might be seen as a "bottomless pit" for investment, Reeves explains the government believes it is important to prioritise capital investment.

“We have to deliver change across public services. That’s why we’re prioritising capital investment so our workers in the NHS are working with the best technology and equipment," Reeves says.

She says that during a visit to a hospital in south London, NHS workers told her they were working with diagnostic equipment that was bought under the last Labour government.

That equipment should have been written off years ago, she says, but because of that lack of investment in equipment, hospitals still have to use it.

“That affects productivity, and that affects standards and that affects the ability of the NHS to deliver the service we want it to deliver.

“That’s why we are prioritising capital investment, whether that’s in our schools, our hospital or indeed the investment alongside business in things like energy and transport and digital technology," the chancellor says.

In a sit-down interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason, Chancellor Rachel Reeves says that she has higher ambitions for growth and that the difficult decisions made in today's Budget were necessary to ensure economic stability.

“This is not the sort of Budget we would want to repeat, but this is the Budget that is needed to wipe the slate clean … under the fiction of previous plans,” Reeves says, adding the government had to take these decisions “to put the economy on a firm footing”.

“We’re fixing the foundations and ensuring that businesses and families can look ahead, plan for the future with confidence,” she says.

Mason asks about growth projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that he says “don’t look great”.

The OBR, which assesses the health of the UK's economy, said the package of economic measures unveiled by Reeves would ultimately "leave GDP largely unchanged in five years".

In response, Reeves says she “absolutely” accepts the projections do not represent “the summit of my ambitions", adding she wants the economy to grow faster.

She also points to the OBR looking ahead to the next ten years for the first time in its forecast.

“It’s really important because often governments make short-term decisions because parliaments last five years and they don’t think about what will happen in years seven, eight, nine and 10.”

Has the Budget raised growth forecasts?published at 17:48 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2024

17:48 GMT 30 October 2024

By Robert Cuffe

In his response to the Budget, Rishi Sunak said: “The OBR has forecast growth is going to be lower under this government than it was forecast to be under the Conservatives."

Under March's forecasts, the economy was set to grow by nearly 8.5% between 2024 and 2028. Under today's forecasts, it is set to grow by nearly 8.2%.

It’s a mistake to read too much into a difference of 0.3 percentage points in five years: you can't really forecast the size of the economy that far ahead that precisely.

So, overall, there's little change in the forecasts.

A special interview with money saving expert Martin Lewis, hosted by Matt Chorley and BBC Radio 5 Live, is being broadcast live in our stream now.

You can follow along by tapping watch live at the top of this page.

This afternoon, Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled the first Labour Budget in 14 years. She told the nation that the government could "fix the foundations" of the UK but warned that they have inherited Tory failure.

Some of the main announcements included the hiking of National Insurance contributions for employers, introducing VAT on private school fees and an extra £22.6bn for day-to-day spending on the NHS in England.

In response, outgoing Tory leader Rishi Sunak said Reeves had launched an "enormous borrowing spree" and denied that the situation Labour inherited was as bad as they say.

The BBC's Faisal Islam says this Budget delivers one of the largest ever tax rises.

For more key points on the Budget, we’ve summarised them here. For how it will affect you, there’s a separate handy guide.

And of course, we are still here with live updates.

Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent

Neil Gilbourne, 67, from Lincoln, asks: How have pensions been brought into the inheritance tax calculation?

Inheritance tax is paid if an estate is valued at more than £325,000, but currently any money saved in a pension does not count towards this.

Anyone who dies before the age of 75 can usually pass on what is left of their pension savings tax-free as a lump sum, or an income.

If they are 75 or older when they die, their pension money can still be passed on, but it is treated as income and the person they leave it to may have to pay income tax.

However, from April 2027, pension pots that are inherited will be part of the tax calculation, potentially bringing more estates into the net.

Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent

Caro Reed, from Brighton, wants to know more about the announcement on bus fares.

The chancellor has confirmed that the cap on bus fares on many routes in England will rise from £2 to £3 in January, and will be in place for a year.

Single bus fares in London with Transport for London will remain at £1.75 and those in Greater Manchester at £2, owing to a different funding system in those cities.

It is also a good example of how policy differs in the different parts of the UK, as the devolved nations set their own rules too.

Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent

Keith Anderson, 75, from Newport asks: Has the 25% tax-free lump sum when taking a pension been affected? There was speculation of this being limited to £100,000.

From the age of 55 (or 57 from 2028), anyone with pension savings can take a quarter of their money as a tax-free lump sum up to a maximum of £268,275.

Keith is correct that there was plenty of speculation that this cap would be lowered, in order to raise more in tax for the government. It prompted some people to act earlier than they might otherwise have done.

I’ve covered lots of Budgets and lots of pension changes are often mooted, then don’t happen. This is another one.

It will be a relief to some people hoping, for example, to pay off a mortgage (or help their children or grandchildren to get one) in the future by taking some of their pension pot as a tax-free lump sum.

Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent

Laura from London wants to know: Will National Insurance payments by businesses impact their hiring power and potentially backfire on employees?

This is clearly one of the main points of debate in this Budget.

The National Insurance bill for all but the smallest businesses is likely to rise. Analysts – as well as the independent official forecaster – says that this is likely to mean businesses paying lower wages than would otherwise have been the case.

Business groups say it could also reduce the number of staff companies take on.

The chancellor says she was left with little choice as tax rises were required.

That’s before we get into the political debate over whether the NI change breaks a manifesto promise or not.

Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent

Melania Benincasa asks: Will mortgage rates fall?

Of course, we don’t know the answer to this for sure, but the rates on new, fixed deals have been dropping in recent months.

In fact, the best deals are now on a par or lower than they were before the mini-Budget when Liz Truss was PM.

The bank rate – which is the benchmark interest rate – is expected to fall further, according to independent forecasters at the Office for Budget Responsibility.

However, owing to spending by the government fuelling some price rises, they say interest rates won’t fall as far and fast as they had previously predicted.

Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent

Ross, 27, from Bristol asks: How will stamp duty change?

Two things are happening here – one mentioned in the speech, one not.

Firstly, a stamp duty surcharge on the purchase of second homes and buy-to-let residential properties in England and Northern Ireland will rise from 3% to 5% on Thursday.

Commentators say that could add to a squeeze on the number of properties landlords want to buy and rent out, hence potentially raising rents for landlords. The chancellor says it will give first-time buyers more of a chance to buy.

Secondly, thresholds at which stamp duty is paid looks set to return to original levels in April. Analysis by property portal Zoopla suggests about 80% of first-time buyers currently pay no stamp duty, but this would now fall to about 60%.

Scotland and Wales have separate, but similar, taxes on property purchases.

Standby - our Your Questions Answered session on the Budget is about to begin.

We've been compiling all your burning queries over the last few days as part of Your Voice, Your BBC News, which aims to invite you to get more involved in our journalism and the stories we cover.

Our cost of living correspondent Kevin Peachey is now poised to answer those questions, and dive deeper into what the Budget means for you and your finances.

At the same time, our colleagues at Newscast will be holding a Budget special, which you can either watch above or listen to here, so whether you prefer to read, watch, or listen - we've got all bases covered on your questions.

Rajdeep Sandhu
BBC Scotland

Family farmers will be looking carefully at the changes to agricultural and business property relief as part of inheritance tax.

Previously they have been exempt from paying any inheritance tax when passing a farm on to the next generation.

Under the new rules, assets over £1m will be taxed at 20%.

There were concerns the relief would be scrapped altogether and one Scottish farmer I spoke to was glad it hadn't been.

But she also pointed out many farms that aren't deemed particularly large will have assets over the £1m threshold and end up paying inheritance tax in order to keep the farm in the family, despite Rachel Reeves saying the government would "continue to protect small family farms".

Conservatives have been warning about this for the last few weeks and pointing out that many farms are cash poor so any tax bill could be problem.

The National Farmers' Union has called this a "disastrous" budget for family farmers, although there are some who see the reliefs as a loophole used by wealthy landowners to avoid tax bills.

Personal finance journalist Martin Lewis has just been speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Matt Chorley and offering his assessment of Rachel Reeves's newly-unveiled Budget.

Lewis says business owners could face having to pay an additional £615 per employee after the chancellor confirmed an increase in employers' National Insurance contributions from next April.

He warns the change could potentially push some businesses to cut wages.

"We need to be honest here, that cost will either be met out of profits - unlikely, increasing consumer charges - possible, or decreasing future benefits and salaries for employees - possible," he says.

Reeves presses on with welfare cuts planpublished at 16:03 Greenwich Mean Time 30 October 2024

16:03 GMT 30 October 2024

Munaza Rafiq
BBC disability producer

Rachel Reeves has committed to making billions of pounds of cuts to disability and incapacity benefits.

She says she will proceed with the work of the previous government to reform the work capability assessment, which is used to determine what work-related conditions a disabled person must meet to keep getting their benefit.

It’s part of Labour’s promise to support more disabled people to work.

Reeves didn’t give any details on what the changes will look like, but a consultation by the Conservatives last year suggested plans to change the way the assessment scores new claimants.

The proposals have proved controversial.

Disability activist, Ellen Clifford, has been granted permission by the High Court to bring a judicial review of the public consultation.

And reaction from disability charities is coming in. Richard Kramer, chief executive of the charity, Sense, says the chancellor’s plans risk “undermining the wellbeing of disabled people”.