i know. i know at short notice, i know. i know that they are worried about their future. under the right hon. >> member for north west essex. >> member for north west essex. >> so they should rest easy knowing that our plan will protect working people from unfair dismissal . it will unfair dismissal. it will safeguard them from bullying in the workplace and it will improve their access to paternity and maternity leave . i paternity and maternity leave. i hope that the new shadow cabinet will soon be grateful for these increased protections at work . increased protections at work. it is right that we protect those who have worked all their lives. in our manifesto, we promised to transfer the investment reserve fund in the mineworkers pension scheme to members , and i have listened members, and i have listened closely to my hon. friends for easington, doncaster central, blaenau gwent and ayr, carrick and cumnock on this issue. today we are keeping our promise so that working people who powered

our country receive the pay fair pension that they are owed . our pension that they are owed. our manifesto committed to the triple lock, meaning spending on the state pension is forecast to rise by over £31 billion by 20 2930. to ensure that our pensioners are protected in their retirement, this commitment means that while working age benefits will be uprated in line with cpi at 1.7%, the basic and new state pension will be uprated by 4.1% in 20 2526. this means that over 12 million pensioners will gain up to £470 next year, up to £275 more than if uprated by inflation. the pension credit standard minimum guarantee will also rise by 4.1% , from around also rise by 4.1%, from around £11,400 per year to around £11,850 a year for a single

pensioner . while i have sought pensioner. while i have sought to protect working people with measures to reduce the cost of living, i have had to take some very difficult decisions on tax. i want to set out my approach to fuel duty , baked into the fuel duty, baked into the numbers that i inherited from the previous government, is an assumption that fuel duty will rise by rpi next year, and that the temporary £0.05 cut will be reversed . so retain the £0.05 reversed. so retain the £0.05 cut, to and freeze fuel duty again would cost over £3 billion next year. at a time when the fiscal position is so difficult, ihave fiscal position is so difficult, i have to be frank with the house that this is a substantial commitment to make. i have concluded that in these difficult circumstances, while the cost of living remains high and with a backdrop of global uncertainty, increasing fuel duty next year would be the wrong choice for working people . wrong choice for working people. it would mean fuel duty rising

by £0.07 per litre. so i have decided today to freeze fuel duty next year, and i will maintain the existing 5% cut for another year to. there will be no higher taxes at the petrol. there will be no higher taxes at the petrol pumps next year. madam deputy speaker, the last government made cuts of £20 billion to employees and self—employed national insurance in their final two budgets. these tax cuts were not honest. no , because we now know that no, because we now know that they were based on a forecast which the obr say would have been materially different . would been materially different. would it be materially different had they known the true extent of they known the true extent of the last government's cover up.7 since july, i have been urged on multiple occasions to reconsider these cuts to increase the taxes that working people pay and see

in their pay slips. but i have made an important choice today to keep every single commitment that we made on tax in our manifesto . so i say to working manifesto. so i say to working people, i will not increase your national insurance. i will not increase your vat , and i will increase your vat, and i will not increase your income tax . not increase your income tax. working people will not see higher taxes in their pay slips as a result of the choices that i am making today. that is a promise made and a promise fulfilled . but any responsible fulfilled. but any responsible chancellor would need to make difficult decisions today to raise the revenues required to fund our public services and to restore economic stability. so in today's budget, i am announcing an increase in employers national insurance contributions. we will increase the rates of employers national

insurance by 1.2 percentage points to 15% from april 2025, and we will reduce the secondary threshold, the level at which employers start paying national insurance on each employee's salary from £9,100 a year to £5,000. this will raise £25 billion per year by the end of the forecast period. i know that this is a difficult choice. i do not take this decision lightly. we are asking businesses to contribute more and i know that there will be impacts of this measure felt beyond businesses too. as the obr has set out today. too. as the obr has set out today . but in too. as the obr has set out today. but in the too. as the obr has set out today . but in the circumstances , today. but in the circumstances, the chancellor of the. >> day our constituents are watching. they need to be able to hear the chancellor simmer, simmer down. chancellor . simmer down. chancellor. >> but in the circumstances that ihave >> but in the circumstances that i have inherited, it is the right choice to make . successful

right choice to make. successful businesses depend on successful schools, healthy businesses depend on a healthy nhs and a strong economy depends on strong pubuc strong economy depends on strong public finances. if the party opposite chooses to oppose this choice, then they are choosing more austerity, more chaos, more instability. this is the choice that our country faces too. as i make this choice, i know it is particularly important to protect our smallest companies. so having heard representations from the federation of small businesses and others, i am today increasing the employment allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. this means 865,000 employers will not pay any national insurance at all next year. yeah >> and over .

>> and over. >> and over. >> and over1 million will pay the same or less than they did previously. this will allow a small business to employ the equivalent of four full time workers on the national living wage, without paying any national insurance on their wages . madam deputy speaker, let wages. madam deputy speaker, let me now come to capital gains tax. we need to drive growth , tax. we need to drive growth, promote entrepreneurship and support wealth creation while raising the revenue required to fund our public services and restore our public finances. today, we will increase the lower rate of capital gains tax from 10 to 18% and the higher rate from 20 to 24%, while maintaining the rates of capital gains tax on residential property at 18 and 24%. two this means the uk will still have the lowest capital gains tax rate of

any european g7 economy . any european g7 economy. alongside these changes to the headune alongside these changes to the headline rates of capital gains tax , we are maintaining the tax, we are maintaining the lifetime limit for business asset disposal relief at £1 million to encourage entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs to invest in their businesses . business asset businesses. business asset disposal relief will remain at 10% this year before rising to 14% in april 2025 to and 18% from 20 2627. maintaining a significant gap compared to the higher rates of capital gains tax. together, the obr say that these measures will raise £2.5 billion by the end of the forecast. in a sign of this government's commitment to supporting growth and entrepreneurship, we have already extended the enterprise investment scheme and the venture capital trust schemes to 2035, and we will continue to work with leading entrepreneurs and venture capital firms to

ensure that our policies support a positive environment for entrepreneurship in the uk . entrepreneurship in the uk. next, inheritance tax only 6% of estates will pay inheritance tax this year. i understand the strongly held desire to pass down savings to children and grandchildren, so i am taking a balanced approach in my package today. first, the previous government froze inheritance tax thresholds until 2028. i will extend that freeze for a further two years until 2030. that means the first £325,000 of any estate can be inherited tax free, rising to £500,000 if the estate includes a residence passed to direct descendants , and £1 direct descendants, and £1 million when a tax free allowance is passed to a surviving spouse or civil partner. second, we will close the loophole created by the previous government made even

bigger when the lifetime allowance was abolished by bringing inherited pensions into inheritance tax from april 2027. finally, we will reform agricultural property relief and business property relief from april 2026. the first £1 million of combined business and agricultural assets will continue to attract no inheritance tax at all, but for assets, but for assets over £1 million, inheritance tax will apply with a 50% relief at an effective rate of 20%. this will ensure that we continue to protect small family farms and three quarters with three quarters of claims unaffected by these changes. i can also announce that we will apply a 50% relief in all circumstances on inheritance tax for shares on the alternative investment market and other similar markets, setting the effective rate of tax at 20%. taken

together, these measures raise over £2 billion by the final year of the forecast. next,