Unions have criticised the Budget for failing to tackle the pay disputes ongoing across the country.

As the Chancellor delivered his speech in the Commons, thousands of workers staged a demonstration outside Downing Street as part of a day of action by unions involved in long-running disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

At a glance: Key points from Jeremy Hunt's 2023 Budget

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: "The multimillionaire Chancellor has declared war on hard-pressed workers today, with this Budget of cuts.

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"The Government has learned nothing from nearly a year of industrial disputes, caused by its outrageous attempts to cut the wages of firefighters, rail workers, NHS staff, postal employees and teachers.

"Firefighters forced the employers into making an improved pay offer on the back of an overwhelming vote for strike action.

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"However, just over a week after this dispute was settled, the Tories are at it again, with a Budget that adopts the same cuts-driven approach to public sector pay and services.

"The Chancellor has stuck up two fingers to workers with this Budget that does nothing for the low paid and poverty-stricken families during the cost-of-living crisis.

"Once again, Jeremy Hunt and the similarly ultra-wealthy Prime Minister are making workers pay for the economic mayhem caused by the notorious mini-budget last autumn, which sought to give tax handouts to the rich at the expense of the rest of us."

Among the measures announced today for Northern Ireland, £3 million is to be allocated to extending the Tackling Paramilitarism Programme and up to £40 million to extend further and higher education participation.

A new enterprise zone is to be introduced in the north to boost business.

Major childcare provisions have been introduced in England but as yet it is unclear whether parents in Northern Ireland will receive assistance.

Pensions

As part of his plans to get older people back into work, the Chancellor announced plans to abolish the lifetime allowance limit on pensions.

Jeremy Hunt told the Commons: “I have listened to the concerns of many senior NHS clinicians who say unpredictable pension tax charges are making them leave the NHS just when they are needed most. The NHS is our biggest employer, and we will shortly publish the long-term workforce plan I promised in the Autumn Statement. But ahead of that I do not want any doctor to retire early because of the way pension taxes work.”

He added: “As Chancellor I have realised the issue goes wider than doctors. No one should be pushed out of the workforce for tax reasons. So today I will increase the pensions annual tax-free allowance by 50% from £40,000 to £60,000. Some have also asked me to increase the Lifetime Allowance from its £1 million limit. But I have decided not to do that.

“Instead I will go further and abolish the Lifetime Allowance altogether.”

Mr Hunt said the changes would “stop over 80% of NHS doctors from receiving a tax charge” and incentivise “our most experienced and productive workers to stay in work for longer”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the scrapping of the lifetime allowance limit amounted to a "permanent tax cut" for the wealthy.

Investment

Mr Hunt said he will invest £200m in regeneration projects in England. And £400m is being set aside for levelling up projects.

Another £8.8bn is being set aside for sustainable transport schemes. Another £200m will be spent dealing with potholes.

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And he announced equivalent funding for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Mr Hunt said: “For Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland this Budget delivers not only a new investment zone but an additional £320 million for the Scottish Government, £180 million for the Welsh Government and £130 million for the Northern Ireland Executive as a result of Barnett consequentials.

He added: "In Northern Ireland, I am allocating up to £3 million to extend the Tackling Paramilitarism Programme and up to £40 million to extend further and higher education participation.”

Enterprise

The Chancellor said the Government would not rest until the UK is “Europe’s most dynamic enterprise economy”.

He told MPs: “We already have lower levels of business taxation than France, Germany, Italy or Japan. But I want us to have the most pro-business, pro-enterprise tax regime anywhere. Even after the corporation tax rise this April, we will have the lowest headline rate in the G7 – lower than at any period under the last Labour government.

“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.”

Mr Hunt also laid out measures the Government had already taken to encourage business investment, telling the Commons: “For larger businesses we have had the super deduction, introduced by the Prime Minister, which ends this month.

“For smaller businesses we have increased the Annual Investment Allowance to £1 million, meaning 99% of all businesses can deduct the full value of all their investment from that year’s taxable profits.”

A three-year policy of “full expensing” for businesses will mean every pound a company invests in IT equipment, plant or machinery can be deducted “in full and immediately” from taxable profits, a move worth £9 billion a year, the Chancellor said.

Prepayment meters

Mr Hunt said prepayment meters currently pay more than comparable customers on direct debit, noting: “Ofgem has already agreed with suppliers a temporary suspension to forced installations of prepayment meters.

“But today I go further, and confirm we will bring their charges in line with comparable direct debit charges. Under a Conservative government, the energy premium paid by our poorest households is coming to an end.”

Mr Hunt said he would provide a £63 million fund to “keep our public leisure centres and pools afloat” in response to high costs and £100 million will be given to support thousands of charities and community organisations.

Suicide measures

In a nod to Sajid Javid, Mr Hunt went on: “I also note the personal courage of one of my predecessors (Mr Javid) in talking about the tragedy of suicide and the importance of preventing it.

“We already invest a lot in this area, but I will assign an extra £10 million over the next two years to help the voluntary sector play an even bigger role in stopping more families experiencing such intolerable heartache.”

Read More: Hunt gives nod to predecessor in cash boost pledge for suicide prevention work

Pubs guarantee

Mr Hunt said he would “significantly increase the generosity of draught relief”, saying this could not be done when the UK was in the EU.

He told MPs: “From August 1 the duty on draught products in pubs will be up to 11p lower than the duty in supermarkets, a differential we will maintain as part of a new Brexit pubs guarantee. British ale may be warm, but the duty on a pint is frozen.”

Mr Hunt said the change will apply to “every pub in Northern Ireland” due to the Windsor Framework.

But millions of wine drinkers will be hit with a 'two-pronged' tax that could see the price of some top drinks increase by almost 50p per bottle.

• The policy will align tax rates with alcohol content from August 1
• It means drinks like red and white wine will cost more 
• Others, including prosecco and cream liqueurs like Baileys, will go down

Read More: Duty on draught beer to be frozen to help the ‘great British pub’

Fuel duty

On fuel duty, Jeremy Hunt said: “Because inflation remains high, I have decided now is not the right time to uprate fuel duty with inflation or increase the duty.

“So here’s what I am going to do: for a further 12 months I’m going to maintain the 5p cut and I’m going to freeze fuel duty too. That saves the average driver £100 next year and around £200 since the 5p cut was introduced.”

The Chancellor added the Government would “uprate tobacco duty, and we will freeze the gross gaming duty yield bands”.

He told the Commons: “Taken together today’s measures lead to a slightly lower overall tax burden for the rest of the Parliament compared to the OBR’s Autumn forecast. Other parties run out of money, but a Conservative government is reducing borrowing and improving our public finances.

“By doing so we make sure we are on track to… … halve inflation … get debt falling …and grow our economy, which I turn to next.”

IFS director Paul Johnson tweeted: “Recall that the Government has spent months saying it can’t find any money to prevent nurses and teachers getting very big pay cuts.

“He just found £6 billion to cut fuel duties. That’s a choice.

“Defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, but only when fiscal and economic circumstances allow. So no timescale. But the ambition matters a lot for the rest of public spending.

“We’ll no longer be funding a growing welfare state from falling or even stagnant defence spending.

“‘Buffer’ of just £6.5bn on debt rule is close enough to zero to make no difference. Aiming for debt to fall in a particular year is not a good fiscal rule. It is clearly a big constraint on policy.”

Read More: Drivers get ‘much-needed relief' with extension of fuel duty cut

Welfare system

The Chancellor announced the “biggest change to our welfare system in a decade”, with reforms aimed at supporting more disabled people into work.

Mr Hunt made a nod to reforms introduced by Sir Iain Duncan Smith when he was work and pensions secretary, telling the Commons: “The number of disabled people in work has risen by two million since 2013. But even after that we could fill half the vacancies in the economy with people who say they would like to work despite being inactive due to sickness or disability.

“With Zoom, Teams and new working models that make it easier to work from home this is more possible than ever before.”

“So for that reason, the ever-diligent Work and Pensions Secretary, today takes the next step in his ground-breaking work on tackling economic inactivity. I thank him for that, and today we publish a White Paper on disability benefits reform. It is the biggest change to our welfare system in a decade.

“His plans will abolish the Work Capability Assessment in Great Britain and separate benefit entitlement from an individual’s ability to work. As a result, disabled benefit claimants will always be able to seek work without fear of losing financial support.”

Jeremy Hunt said the Government will fund a new programme called “universal support” in England and Wales.

He told MPs: “This is a new, voluntary employment scheme for disabled people where the Government will spend up to £4,000 per person to help them find appropriate jobs and put in place the support they need. It will fund 50,000 places every single year.”

Mr Hunt said the Government also wants to help those who are forced to leave work because of a health condition, such as back pain or a mental health issue.

He said: “I am also announcing a £400 million plan to increase the availability of mental health and musculoskeletal resources and expand the individual placement and support scheme.”

Back to work

Mr Hunt also set out plans to encourage older people back into work, telling the Commons: “Today I take three steps to make it easier for those who wish to work longer to do so.”

The Chancellor added: “First, we will increase the number of people who get the best possible financial, health and career guidance ahead of retirement by enhancing the DWP’s excellent ‘Mid-life MOTs’ Strategy.

“Second, with the Education Secretary, we will introduce a new kind of apprenticeship targeted at the over 50s who want to return to work. They will be called ‘Returnerships’, and operate alongside skills boot camps and sector-based work academies.

“They will bring together our existing skills programmes to make them more appealing for older workers, focusing on flexibility and previous experience to reduce training length.”

The Chancellor also revealed sanctions reforms aimed at getting people on Universal Credit benefits into work.

He said: “There are more than two million jobseekers in this group, more than enough to fill every single vacancy in the economy.”

After claiming that “independence is always better than dependence” to jeers from the SNP, Mr Hunt added: “Sanctions will be applied more rigorously to those who fail to meet strict work-search requirements or choose not to take up a reasonable job offer.

“For those working low hours, we will increase the Administrative Earnings Threshold from the equivalent of 15 hours to 18 hours at National Living Wage for an individual claimant, meaning that anyone working below this level will receive more work coach support alongside a more intensive conditionality regime.”

As the third part of his plans to get older people back into work, the Chancellor announced plans to abolish the lifetime allowance limit on pensions.

Mr Hunt told the Commons: “Finally, I have listened to the concerns of many senior NHS clinicians who say unpredictable pension tax charges are making them leave the NHS just when they are needed most. The NHS is our biggest employer, and we will shortly publish the long-term workforce plan I promised in the Autumn Statement. But ahead of that I do not want any doctor to retire early because of the way pension taxes work.”

He added: “As Chancellor I have realised the issue goes wider than doctors. No one should be pushed out of the workforce for tax reasons. So today I will increase the pensions annual tax-free allowance by 50% from £40,000 to £60,000. Some have also asked me to increase the Lifetime Allowance from its £1 million limit. But I have decided not to do that.

“Instead I will go further and abolish the Lifetime Allowance altogether.”

Mr Hunt said the changes would “stop over 80% of NHS doctors from receiving a tax charge” and incentivise “our most experienced and productive workers to stay in work for longer”.

Childcare

Every child over the age of nine months in eligible households (does not include Northern Ireland) will be offered 30 hours per week of free care in a policy to be introduced in stages, Mr Hunt announced.

The Government will change minimum staff-to-child ratios from 1:4 to 1:5 for two-year-olds in England but make it “optional”, the Chancellor said, as he announced an increase in funding for nurseries.

Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) director Paul Johnson tweeted: “Extending free childcare to all children over 9 months really is a big extension of the welfare state.

“(Probably) about doubles childcare spending.

“We’ve been edging in this direction for a good 20 years. This is a new leg of the welfare state finally nearing its end point.”

FTSE 100

London’s FTSE 100 has slumped to its lowest levels this year as banking shares plunged amid resurging fears over the health of the global financial system.

The sharp sell-off came ahead of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivering his Spring Budget on Wednesday.

The blue-chip index was trading about 2.5% lower, dragged down by banking and insurance stocks which had only briefly managed to recover after the monumental collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in the US sparked a global sell-off.

It sank to lows of about 7,440, not seen since December last year.