Funding for levelling up, including a variety of spending giveaways across the regions, formed a major portion of the Budget speech, including devolution to certain County Councils, and well as pledges of funding.
There was also money for London, with over £240 million to housing projects in capital: up to 7,200 homes in Barking and a new life sciences hub and up to 750 homes into a scheme at Canary Wharf, which will also includes commercial and retail floor space.
The UK’s leading position globally in terms of technology innovation, University spin-outs and the creative sector were also areas of focus, with the extension of key tax reliefs focussed on film, TV and theatre production.
Reforms that will examine how pension funds invest and what they invest into, both in terms of risk and geographic exposure continue to be explored. The message from the government was clear: the UK is a great place to invest.
Specific new measures include the introduction of the new UK ISA to channel more investment into UK equities, and British Savings Bonds, which provide opportunities to save whilst supporting investment in the UK.
The UK ISA will be a £5,000 allowance in addition to the existing £20,000 ISA allowance and will be a new tax-free product for people to invest in UK-focused assets. The British Savings Bonds will be delivered through National Savings and Investments and will be launched in April 2024. This product will offer a guaranteed interest rate, fixed for three years.
We also saw the launch of the Public Sector Productivity Programme. Government believe that analysis shows that the average productivity of public services is estimated to be 5.9% below pre-pandemic levels and returning productivity to pre-pandemic levels would deliver the equivalent of up to £20 billion of benefits a year. Whilst this was presented as a major transformation programme, one wonders how much progress the government expects to make in this election year.