banish sheet to help those who cannot afford the larger deposits that mortgage company are now demanding. it comes alongside there are new homes to buy. we provide up front finance to construction firms. we are also passing on our low interest rates to small businesses to the national loan guarantee scheme. this started yesterday, barkleys and the new business bank are all involved. 20 billion of guarantees in total will be available many in the autumn segment i also allocated one billion pounds to invest in funds that lend directly to the mid cap businesses, that are the backbone of our economy. the response has exceeded our expectations, 24 funds have submitted proposals, i am short listing seven of them. and such has been the quality of

the bids, i've also decided to increase the finance partnership by 20%. i'm expanding the enterprise finance guarantee. stability, credibility the low interest rates they bring, and passing those low rates to families and businesses. these are necessary for growth, but alone they are not sufficient. as a nation, we have to make a choice. this country became seduced by large deficits and the illusion of cheap finance. now, do we watch as the brazils and the chinas and the india's of this world power ahead of us in the global economy, or do we have the national resolve to say, no, we will not be left behind, we want to be out in front? and that is this government's resolve? under this government, britain has moved into the top ten of the most competitive places in the world to do business. but we have to do more. and here's how. first export. over the last decade our share

of world experts shrank as germany's grew. we sold more to ireland than brazil, russia, india and china put together. that was the road to britain's economic ire relevance, and we want to double our nation's exports to 1 trillion pounds this decade. we're expanding u.k. export finance and setting out smaller firms in new markets. exports abroad must be august paid by investment at home. britain has a welcoming place for investment. we must never allow protecti protectionist rhetoric to creep into our political system. instead, we're actively seeking investment from overseas pension and working to develop london as a new offshore market for the chinese currency. we also want investment from british pension funds and british infrastructure, and

we're working with a dozen of the large pension schemes specifically on that. we're the first british government to set out in a national infrastructure plan. the roads, railways, clean energy and water we all need and we have identified. i also believe this country must confront the lack of airport capacity in the southeast of england. we cannot cut ourselves off from the fastest growing cities in the world. and the transport secretary will set out government thinking later this summer . we have the opportunities for increasing the role of private investment if the rome network with, learning lessons from the industry. i confirmed today the network rail will extend the northern hub, adding to the rail route by

improving the lines. for years, transport investment in the north england was with neglected. not under this government. we are working with our great cities to divulge decision making powers and we are striking a groundbreaking deal this week with manchester to support 1.2 billion pounds in growth and infrastructure in that city. we will support 150 million pounds of tax increment financing to help local authorities promote development. and we will provide an extra 270 million pounds to the growing this month. in all this, we are working with local areas to support their ideas, growing the private sector in parts of the country

where the stake has taken a larger and larger share of the econo economy. the mayor london is a very effective champion for the city he runs so well. we will work with him on plans this summer to go on investing in london transport, lengthening commuter trains, extending the underground and exploring new river crossings in east london. he will be creating a new 70 million pound development fund to attract new business and new jobs. and the mayor has persuaded me of the docs, if we offer enhanced capital how answers there, so we will. mr. deputy speaker, 24

enterprisers are going ahead across england. chinese investment is expanding. i want parts of the united kingdom to benefit from these policies. the chief secretary can confirm today we will offer enhanced capital allowances for businesses starting out in the new scottish enterprise areas in dundee, and we look forward to the first enterprise zone in northern ireland. i also want to see investment in our world leading energy sector, including renewables. we launched the green investment bank open for business next month. we introduced the tax system to encourage investment and set the rate today. combined heat and power plants will not be liable to carbon foot rates. renewable energy will play a crucial part in britain's energy mix.

i will be alert to the costs we're asking families and businesses to bear. environmentally sustainable has to be fiscally sustainable as well. the carbon reduction commitment was established by the previous government. it is cumbersome and imposes unnecessary costs on business. so we will saek major savings in the administering costs of the business. if those cannot be found i will bring forth proposals this autumn for an alternative environmental tax. gas is cheap, and has much less carbon than coal. my letter to the energy secretary will secure enh inv t investment, and i want to ensure we extract the greatest possible amount oil and gas from our reserves in the north sea. we are introducing a major package of tax changes to achieve this.

we will enter into a contractual approach, and we are also introducing new allowances, including a 3 billion pound new field allowance for large and deep fields to open up west of shetland, the last area that's been left to be developed. a huge boost for investment in the north sea. now, mr. deputy speaker, we shouldn't be shy about identifying our successful industries and reinforcing them. around one with fifth of the world's top medicines originate from the u.k. research. so we're cutting taxes to make this one of the most attractive places in the world to invent new medicines. we protected the science budget,

now we're committing $100 million pounds of support for investment in major new research facilities. and we will also establish a uk center for aerodynamics to open next year that will encourage innovation in aircraft design. we also turn britain into a digital technology center. the film tax credit protected in our spending review, helps gete of film production last year alone. today i'm introducing plans for video games and high end tv -- not only will this stop tv productions from being made abroad, it will attract disney and hbo, to make more their premium shows in the u.k.

it will support our beautiful video games and animation industries too. because mr. deputy speaker, it is the determined policy this government that we keep wallace & grommet exactly where they are. >> i would have thought that the government side would want to hear more from the chancellor. >> mr. deputy speaker, we also need to have the best technology infrastructure. two years ago, britain had some of the slowest broadband speeds in europe. today our plans will deliver some of the fastest, with 90% of the population, having access to super fast broadband.

we should not be complacent by saying it's enough to be the best in europe, when countries like korea and singapore do even better. we're introducing ultrafast broadband and wifi in belfast, birmingham, bristol, edinboro, leeds, manchester and london. my honorable friend from brighton asked me to help small cities too. 50 million pounds will be available for smaller cities too. and the fastest digital speeds in the world available in our cities, with the most connected countryside in europe. that is what a modernp industrial policy looks like. and the business secretary and i have asked michael to review by the autumn how government spending departments in other public bodies can work better

with a private sector on economic development 37 from liverpool to canary wall, michael knows how it's done. and these projects succeeded because they were not killed offer by the planning system. you can't earn your future if you can't get planning permission. global businesses have diverted specific investments that would have kpree ated hundreds of jobs in some of the most deprived communities in britain to countries like germany and the netherlands because they can't get planning permission here. that is unacceptable. next week, the community secretary of the planning minister will publish the results our overhaul of of planning regulation by replacing 1,000 pages of guidance with just 50 pages. we're introducing a presumption in favor of sustainable development. by protecting our most precious

environments. the new policy comes into effect when the national policy planning framework is published next tuesday. this is the biggest reduction in business red tape ever undertaken. as a country, we also want to make the most of the olympic and par olympic games. some of the events will be on a sunday. we don't want to hang out a closed for business sign. so we will introduce legislation limited to relaxing the sunday trading laws for eight sundays only starting on july 22nd. mr. deputy speaker, earning our way in the world means giving young people the skills to compete. and in time, my friend the educational secretary school reforms will do more to improve the long term economic performance of our country than any budget measure will. we have to help the young adults who have already been let down

by the school system. we're offering a record number of apprenticeships and our youth comes into the house next month. we're experiencing the idea of enterprise loans. young people get a loan to go to university or college. now we want to help them get a loan to start their own business. we also looking to see whether we can make public sector pay more responsive to local pay rates. it is something, as we just heard, the last government introduced into the court service. london waiting already exists across the public sector. indeed the opposition have proposed the interests idea of regional benefit rates. so we should see what we can do to make our public services more responsive, and help our private sector to grow and create jobs in all parts of the country. we've asked the independent pay review bodies to look at this issue. today we're publishing the

evidence that the treasury is submitting to them. and some departments will have the option of moving for more local pay for pay freezes end this year. mr. deputy speaker, new infrastructure and investment, ambitious reforms, planning education and welfare to help businesses create jobs. this will all help britain earn its way in the world. we also need a tax system that supports work. 200 years ago, adam smith set out the four principles of good taxation. they remain good principles today. taxes should be simple, predictable support work and they should be fair. the rich should pay the most and the poor the least. the tax system this government inherited from its predecessor has drifted far from these principles. we've already addressed some of the problems. we've established an office of tax fiction to drive out

complexity. companies are moving to britain not away. we stopped the jobs tax. we've taken 1 million low paid people out of tax all together. now we need reform we need a modern tax system fit for the modern world. the first goal is a far simpler tax system, which businesses can easily navigate and ordinary taxpayers understand what they're being asked to pay. we will radically change the tax for our smallest firms. last year i asked the office for recommendations, they have proposed that we tax small firms on the basis of the cash that passes through their businesses rather than asking them to spend a huge amount of time doing calculations designed for big businesses. i agree. we will consult on this new cash base is for calculating tax. double what the office proposed.

this will make tax returns dramatically simpler for up to three million firms. we're with also pressing forward with our ambition to integrate the income tax and national insurance i announced at last year's budget so we don't ask businesses to run two payroll tax formulations. at present soft drinks and sports drinks are charged the tax, nutrition drinks are not. some products in supermarkets are not, and some companies are using the rules to exempt the rental of land to avoid the tax that that competitors are paying. we're publishing our plans today, to remove loopholes and anomalies, we keep the broad exemptions on food, children's

clothes, newspapers. we should simplify the age related allowances, which the office had recently highlighted as a particularly complicated feature of the tax system. they point out that many pensioners don't understand them. allowances require 150,000 pensioners to fill in self-assessment forms, as we have real increases, the value is already being eroded away. over time, we will simplify the tax system for pensioners by doing away with the additional age related allowances four anyone reaching the age of 65 on or after the 6th of april 2013. and i will freeze the cash value of the allowance for existing pensioners until it alignings with a personal allowance. it is a major -- no pensioner will lose in cash terms.

pensioners next month will receive the largest ever cash increase in the basic state pension of 5030 a week. now we want to simply phi, i pay tribute to the honorable work the pensions minister has done on this. such is the this system. only someone like our pension's minister can work out what someone's entitled to and what they need to save, so i can confirm we will introduce a new single tier pension for future pensioners set above the means test, this is currently estimated at 140 pounds. it will be based on contributions, and it will cost no more than the current system in any year, we will bring forward further details later this spring. a single generous basic state pension for those who have worked hard and saved hard all their lives and a further major

simplificatio simplification. people should know what taxes they're paying and what their money is being spent on many my honorable friends, the -- we send to taxpayers an annual statement, showing them just that. i think this is an excellent idea, and i intend to put it into hmrc contacts roughly half of taxpayers each year from 2014. the 20 million taxpayers will at the same time receive a new personal tax statement this will tell people how much income tax and insurance they have paid. how this contributes to public spending. in other words, how much proportionately their tax bill goes to fund their health care, education or welfare bills and how much is spent on servicing

interest payments on the national debt. people will know what they're paying and what they're paying it for. a tax system that is simple and transparent. that is our first goal. second goal -- our predecessors wanted to increase taxes on small businesses. instead we've cut the tax rate on small companies to 20%. our predecessors wanted to increase national insurance on jobs and we cut it. our new controlled foreign company rules will be legitimated for in the coming finance bill and we'll stop global firms leaving britain and encourage them to start coming here. this government supports research and development here in britain instead of abroad. we've already increased the r&d

tax credit for smaller firms. i confirm that from next year we will also introduce an above the line r&d tax credit. and we will help new start-up businesses recruit and retain talent by more than doubling the enterprise management to pounds and easing the rules so that academics in our universities can turnp great ideas into great companies. the treasury will review what more we can do for employee ownership. all of these provisions will help business in britain. we've already cut the rate from 28% to 26%. this april it is due to fall again to 25%. can i tell the house today we will have a further cut of 1% to be implemented right away.

from next month, britain will have a corporation tax rate of just 24% and we will continue with the two further cuts planned next year. so by 2014 britain will have a 22% rate of corporation tax. this is the biggest sustained reduction in business tax rates for a generation. a headline rate that is not just lower than our competitors, but dramatically lower, 18% lower than the u.s., 16% lower than japan. 12% below france and 8% below germany. and it's a rate that puts our country within sight of a 20% income tax that would raise the corporation tax rate. i'm also increasing the rate of

the bank levee from 0.15% so additional tax cuts do not benefit the banks. >> and so our levee will in addition raise the we said it . now, mr. deputy speaker, that brings me to the main duties. let me start with alcohol duty. the government will be publishing its alcohol strategy, to address the growing problem of alcohol abuse, and the many billions of pounds it costs our criminal justice system. but today i have no further changes to make by the duty rates. turning to tobacco duty, smoking remains the biggest cause of

preventable illness in the u.k., there is clear evidence that inning creasing the cost of tobacco encourages smokers to quit and discourages young people from taking up. duty on all tobacco products will rise by 35% above inflation. this will take effect 6:00 p.m. tonight. one area where i am today making substantial changes is gambling duties. the treatment of gaming machines is being repeatedly challenged by operators in the courts. so i will introduce a new machine games duty with a standard rate of 20%. the current dudety regime for remote gambling introduced by

the last government was levied on a place of supply basis. this allowed overseas operators to largely avoid it. and much of the industry has moved offshore. 90% of online gambling consumed by our citizens is supplied from outside the u.k. and operations are under pressure to leave. this is not fair, and not a fairway to support jobs. we intend to introduce a tax regime based on the consumption where the customer is based not the company. we will also ined deuce double taxation relief for gambling. i turn now to fuel for households and businesses. that's why we took action last year to cut fuel duty, it is 6 pence lower than our predecessors planned. we have also scrapped the last

government's fuel duty, regardless of the oil price above inflation rises will only return if the oil price falls below 45 pounds, currently equivalent to $675. that means this government has eased the burden on motorists by 4r.5 billion pounds at a time when money is very short. i do not propose to make any further changes to the fuel duty plans already set out. i am increasing vehicle excise duty by inflation only. to encourage fuel efficiently, we will extend the 100% first year allowance for low emissions business cause. reduce the co 2 threshold and i can also anoifrns that i. freezing vehicle excise duty.

mr. deputy speaker, i now turn to personal and property taxation. my goal is a tax system where the lowest paid are lifted out of tax all together. while tax revenues werichest in. most wealthy people pay their taxes and without them we could not begin to afford the public services upon which this country depends. under the last government, was the boost some high earners, with the help of their accountants, they were paying less in taxes than their cleaners. i regard tax evasion as morally repugnant. we've increased both the resources and the number of of of staff -- the anti-avoidance

measures will increase tax revenue over the next five years by a billion pounds and protect 10 billion pounds that could have been lost. this week we signed a further agreement with the rest. we've done all these things, today we do even more. on coming to all of this, i asked graham to establish whether a general anti-avoid answer rule could work in the u.k. tax system. he said it would with allow us to tackle -- we agree, so we will introduce one. we will consult on the details of the new rule and legislate in next year's finance bill. a major source of use. and one that rouses the anger of many our citizens is the way some people avoid the stamp duty, the rest of the population pays, including by using companies to