The chancellor writes on today's budget

George Osborne writes:
        

"My budget today supports everyone who wants to work hard and get on.

In a tough economic situation, the British people know there are no easy answers or short cuts. But we are succeeding, slowly but surely, in fixing those problems.

	We've now cut Labour's record deficit by not just by a quarter,  - but by a third.
	We've helped create 1.25 million new private sector jobs.
	Interest rates remain at record lows.

This government inherited the largest deficit of any major economy. Labour's plans to borrow even more would take us backwards. Instead, by making savings from bureaucracy, from the benefits bill, and by ensuring that the better off play their part, we are able to do more to boost jobs and help families.

To compete in the global race

	We're creating a new Employment Allowance to help small firms take on more staff. By taking £2,000 off the employer national insurance bill of every company, we will take around 450,000 small businesses out of paying any jobs tax at all - that's one third of all employers. While Labour proposed putting a tax on jobs, we're taking tax off jobs.
	Cutting corporation tax to 20 per cent from April 2015, giving us the most competitive rate in the G20. And we are abolishing stamp duty on shares traded on growth markets such as AIM, which will support growth and jobs across the UK.
	Improving infrastructure by boosting capital investment by £15 billion over the rest of this decade. Public investment will now be higher on average as a percentage of our national income under our plans than it was in the whole period of the last Government.

To support aspiration and help people who want to work and get on

	The personal tax allowance will be increased to £10,000 next year. Families will pay over £700 less in income tax than when this government came to office. 24 million people will pay less tax.
	We're introducing Tax Free Childcare. We're giving people 20% off, equivalent to the basic rate of tax, on the first £6,000 of their childcare costs for each child.
	Introducing Help to Buy. We're supporting people who want their own home, but can't afford the increased deposits that lenders now require. We're using the Government's fiscal credibility to support a Mortgage Guarantee to help lenders offer mortgages to people with a deposit of between 5 per cent and 20 per cent. This should dramatically increase their availability.
	Cancelling the September fuel duty increase altogether. Pump prices will be 13 pence per litre lower than if we had not acted over these last three years to freeze fuel duty.
	We're taking a penny off the price of a pint of beer. This will save drinkers 4 pence a pint compared to the last government's plans.

I believe the way to restore our economic prosperity is to energise the aspirations of the British people.

For years people have felt that the whole system was tilted against those who did the right thing: who worked, who saved, who aspired.

But these are very people we need to support if Britain is to have a future.

So this is a Budget for people who work hard and want to get on.

It is a Budget for a Britain that wants to be prosperous, solvent and free.

Yours sincerely,

George Osborne
Chancellor of the Exchequer"