Hunt Outlines Regional Spending & Business Investment Plans

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt outlining regional spending projects in the Budget, and talking up

• Hunt: "For Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland this Budget delivers not only a new Investment Zone but an additional £320m for the Scottish Government, £180m for the Welsh Government and £130m for the Northern Ireland Executive as a result of Barnett consequentials."
• Hunt: "I can announce a second round of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements, allocating £8.8 billion over the next five-year funding period."
• Hunt: "...after the corporation tax rise this April [...] Only 10% of companies will pay the full 25% rate. But even at 19% our corporation tax regime did not incentivise investment as effectively as countries with higher headline rates."
• Hunt: " If the super deduction was allowed to end without a replacement, we would have fallen down the international league tables for tax competitiveness and damaged growth. [...] we will introduce a new policy of “full expensing” for the next three years, with an intention to make it permanent as soon as we can responsibly do so. That means that every single pound a company invests in IT equipment, plant or machinery can be deducted in full and immediately from taxable profits. It is a corporation tax cut worth an average of £9 bn a year for every year it is in place. [...] The OBR says it will increase business investment by 3% for every year it is in place."