The Chancellor has delivered the 2003 Budget. The key points of the speech were:

Duties/charges

Freeze on stamp duty on property

Planned 1.28% rise in fuel deferred until Oct 1, deferred longer or scrapped if international situation means oil prices stay volatile

£5 on car tax on May 1

Income tax and tax allowances will remain unchanged

Car tax set to rise by inflation but lorry and motorbike taxes will remain the same

Rise 8p per packet of 20 on cigarettes.

Duty increase of 1p on beer and 4p on wine

Freeze on all spirits duties

Inheritance tax threshold raised from £250,000 to £255,000.

Abolish tax on Bingo on August 4.

Business measures

A boost could be in store for the county with the chancellor announcing increased revenues from new businesses created locally to be shared with local authorities by Inland Revenue.

Mr Brown said funds would be provided for training, travel and particular measures to help Britain's ethnic minorities

Incentives for small businesses in Government-designated Enterprise Areas which will include: fast-track planning approval; stamp duty abolished; community investment tax relief

Chancellor has said he will abolish fines on late payment for VAT

40 business regulations being targeted for reform or abolition

Three million businesses will qualify for extra help to upgrade their IT.

Mr Brown pledged to extend the scope of tax credits for companies investing in research and development, to ensure more firms qualified.

Predictions

Government surplus predicted at £32bn

Manufacturing output set to grow by 0.25% to 0.75% this year with fixed investment expected to grow by 4.25% to 4.75% this year.

Cost of war estimated at £3bn by Mr Brown

Inflation target for the coming financial year is 2.5%.

Growth for this financial year would be 2-2.5% and rise to 3-3.5% in 2004-5. This figure is unchanged from previous forecasts

Other measures

The Chancellor announced increases in government borrowing, with debt this year rising to £27bn from £24.5bn.

There will be an increase of £100 in the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.

Chancellor has said he will abolish hospital accommodation charges for pensioners.

Every child born from today will receive a child trust fund

Euro - an assessment on the single currency will be made by the first week in June

A boost for families with a couple with two children effectively not paying tax until their joint income rose to nearly £20,000 a year.

Mr Brown pledged to do more to help single parents get back to work, adding: "Tax credits are the modern route to eradicating poverty, by making work pay."

Lone parents who look actively for work will get an extra £20 a week under new plans unveiled by the chancellor.

Chancellor looking at civil service to investigate benefits to regions by relocating departments outside of London.

Chancellor has announced he will introduce anti-avoidance measures on stamp duty, VAT and various other taxes

£330m extra for counter-terrorism measures in the UK.

For a full round-up of this year's budget see tomorrow's Evening Echo and Evening Gazette newspapers and this weeks Essex Chronicle

For further details on this year's budget and in-depth analysis see www.thisismoney.co.uk

Published Wednesday, April 9, 2003