Image source, Getty Images

Smaller homebuilders, however, do need help, and may not have been able to make use of the government-guaranteed CBILs and bounce back loans, says accountant KPMG's Mr Crosby.

Cheaper homes for key workers should also be a priority, he said.

Chairman of the Bed & Breakfast Association, David Weston, said his organisation are "delighted" by the VAT cut.

"It will help stimulate demand and, once our borders open to incoming tourism and will also help UK tourism overall as Britain's VAT rate has been amongst the highest of our international competitors," he said.

Joss Croft, chief executive of UKinbound, a trade association representing the inbound tourism industry, says the Jobs Retention Bonus Scheme will help but has a warning.

"These measures will not help the many businesses involved in inbound tourism who drive regional economies and jobs, and who are on the brink.

"Longer-term support will still be required for these businesses, which have been hit even harder than domestic and outbound."

Image source, Getty Images

The Local Government Association is pleased with announcements around jobs, apprenticeships and green investment.

But its chairman, Councillor James Jamieson, says councils are "deeply concerned about local economic decline and rising unemployment".

He adds: "Locally led action will be key if every part of the country is to bounce back from this economic shock.

"Councils want to work with the government on how to best target increased national investment to help young people and adults secure jobs and get millions of people back into work."

Housebuyers have been contacting the BBC with their reaction to the chancellor's plans for the economy.

Natalie Knebel of Dukinfield was due to exchange contracts today and complete on her new home next week.

She said: "We are over the moon that there is now a stamp duty holiday.

"We've been working throughout this coronavirus situation. I'm a receptionist while my partner John Sorriento is a key worker - he's a gravedigger.

"The process of buying a house has taken longer than expected due to the lockdown restrictions and we then had to reduce the price of our house as the seller was unable to proceed at the original price because of his circumstances, and he had to close his business due to Covid-19.

"The stamp duty holiday will help bridge the gap for what we lost. We are going to be saving about £1,300 but we did lose £4,000 on the sale of our property.

"We started this whole process in February - so it's been a long time coming. We're going to use the money we save on home improvements."

Image source, Natalie Knebel

The GMB Union is cautiously welcoming the chancellor's summer statement.

Its acting general secretary, John Phillips, says: “We will subject the chancellor's policies to close scrutiny - but what has been outlined today seems to be a good start.

“GMB welcomes investment in the economy and industry, however ministers must make sure new jobs are good jobs and training opportunities are real.

"We need action to protect incomes, alongside jobs."

Ruth Slack, a 56-year-old from Toddington, was laid off in March as lockdown hit.

She tells the BBC she is "wanting to get back into work so much" and is "on the laptop, day in day out," trying to find a job.

Ms Slack has a 21-year-old son, so welcomes the support for younger people.

But she says: "My age group have got a lot of experience they can bring to the market and I think we should have young and old people together in the workplace, helping each other.

"It is important not to lose all the experience I have from my career and I don't want to lose it."

Ms Slack says she wishes the government had done more to help older people "with more learning, more courses for people to get back into work and to upskill us all".

Image source, Getty Images

Chancellor Rishi Sunak may have received praise for a number of his commitments, but some are worried about not being included.

The director of campaign group Generation Rent, Alicia Kennedy, said it was "tragic" that Mr Sunak "did not take the chance today to help the half a million renters who have got behind on their rent in the last few months".

She welcomed the support for jobs, but said people are "struggling to put food on the table now and face the threat of losing their home when the eviction ban is lifted next month".

"They can’t eat out to help out," she says. "Renters need a pay out to eat in."

Ms Kennedy also says the cut in stamp duty "doesn’t help renters whose incomes and savings have been destroyed by the pandemic and face a further setback to their hopes of buying a home".

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Talking to The World at One on BBC Radio 4, general secretary of the Trade Unions Congress Frances O’Grady criticised the tapered end of the furlough scheme.

“I worry that the chancellor hasn’t provided that bridge between having nine million people on furlough... and what happens come October.

"A little tweaking around the edges is not going to provide the plan that we need for those industries that are critical to this country’s future.”

Business lobby group the CBI supports the moves by the Chancellor, but calls for more long-term support for companies.

The CBI's director general, Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, says Rishi Sunak was "absolutely right to prioritise jobs", adding: "Flattening the daunting unemployment curve about to hit our country could not be more important."

She also praised the kickstart scheme for young people to get into work, the extra support for apprenticeships and careers advice, and the investment into "green growth".

But, Dame Carolyn says "prevention is better than cure" and "many viable firms are facing maximum jeopardy right now".

"The job retention bonus will help firms protect jobs," she adds. "But with nearly 70% of firms running low on cash, and three in four reporting lack of demand, more immediate direct support for firms, from grants to further business rates relief, is still urgently needed."

She says: “The Chancellor must continue to balance the need to invest in a long-term, sustainable recovery while responding to the urgent challenges that companies are experiencing today.”

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Back in the Commons the DUP's Treasury spokesman Sammy Wilson suggested that clothes shops will welcome the cut in VAT on food arguing that "once we've eaten our way through a month's worth of half price meals we may be in need of new clothes."

On a more serious note he says "nothing was mentioned" about the aerospace and aviation sectors which are important to Northern Ireland.

On Mr Wilson's first point, Rishi Sunak says making progress towards opening gyms would help.

On the second point, he seeks to reassure the DUP MP that he is in "close contact with the industry".

Image source, Getty Images

The debate is now in full swing in the Commons, but what did Chancellor Rishi Sunak announce in his summer statement?

Here is a brief overview:

• A Jobs Retention Bonus, giving £1,000 to businesses who bring back employees from furlough
• A temporary VAT cut for hospitality and tourism - down from 20% to 5%
• An "Eat Out to Help Out" scheme for August, giving a discount to people eating at cafes, restaurants and pubs
• A rise in the threshold of stamp duty from £125,000 to £500,000
• A "kickstart scheme" to get unemployed 16 to 24-year-old into work
• New payments for businesses hiring apprentices

Simon Gompertz
Personal finance correspondent

The stamp duty holiday applies from midnight last night, which means that anyone completing a purchase of a main residence today will still get the benefit.

This could be worth nearly £15,000 for a property priced at just under the £500,000 top limit.

Homebuyers purchasing something pricier, for more than half a million pounds, will still get the benefit of the cut.

They have to start paying the duty at 5% for the amount paid above £500,000, rising to 10% and 12% for the most expensive homes.

But it still means they pay less than before.

Of course, if you bought yesterday or earlier, it looks like you miss out.

The tax break is costing the Treasury £3.8bn, more than expected, partly because it is going on for nine months rather than the expected six months.

Roger Harrabin
BBC environment analyst

Image source, Getty Images

The Chancellor said he expects 650,000 homes to be upgraded thanks to a £3bn programme to renovate public buildings and housing.

The plan includes offering £5,000 insulation vouchers to home owners.

He said today he expects the programme to create 140,000 “green” jobs.

The idea is to stimulate jobs in refurbishment as well as cutting bills and carbon emissions.

The estimates of the number of homes to benefit and jobs to be created have been developed since our report yesterday.

The grants stand alongside a £1bn fund for renovating public buildings. The plans are far more ambitious that any UK government initiative so far.

But the think tank e3g estimates that even if the programme continues to be funded at the current level it would take nearly 30 years for homes to reach an acceptable standards of insulation.

It says the investment would need to be raised substantially if the government wants to hit its own target of abolishing cold homes by 2035.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Former chancellor Sajid Javid, who quit in February after being asked to fire his advisers, says Mr Sunak has been "right thus far" to "spend what it takes" to help the recovery.

But he warns interest rates on debt repayments "will not stay low forever" and will eventually have to be brought under control.

He ask for Mr Sunak to set out rules in the autumn to get debt as a proportion on GDP down by the next election in 2024.

The chancellor replies that finances will be brought down to a "sensible footing" - and says he will look at the idea of a debt interest rule over the next few months.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey asks why "was there was absolutely nothing for the self-employed".

He also asks why is the chancellor's ambition for a green recovery is "so small" and says countries like Germany and France have provided a massive investment stimulus.

Rishi Sunak says the government's self employment scheme is "one of the most generous and comprehensive anywhere".

He notes that Germany announced €50bn for investment for the next five years - and compares that to £640bn announced by the UK earlier in the year for the same time period.

BBC Politics Live
BBC2's lunchtime political programme

Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies Paul Johnson says: "The one thing the chancellor skipped over - right at the beginning - he said he was allocating £50bn to public services.

"Last time we looked that number was about £18bn - suddenly an extra £30bn has appeared in his numbers.

If you look at the Treasury document - an astonishing £15bn of that is to buy PPE for staff.

There is another £10bn allocated to testing and tracing.

"It is quite surprising that very big amount of money was skated over so quickly."

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

We’ve got used to big interventions from the government in recent months – this is another set of expensive commitments from the Treasury.

But there is one overriding aim; to stop a massive increase in unemployment in the coming months.

The chancellor is hoping the job retention bonus will persuade employers to keep people on their books.

And it hopes the other schemes announced will either create new jobs or give a boost to those sectors which are slowly emerging from the lockdown.

Slashing VAT for many in the hospitality industry will, it’s hoped, allow them to retain more of the money they are taking in and therefore keep more of their employees in their job.

There was a lot of focus on young people too. The Treasury is worried because so many young people work in the sectors which have been hardest hit.

Will it be enough? Some say not – and want the government to guarantee more jobs for longer in the hardest hit sectors.

But ministers’ hope today will go a long way to stopping a rise in unemployment that many in Westminster fear.