| Savings and alcohol policies include extending the Help to Save scheme to 2027, increasing alcohol and tobacco duties, and introducing a new vaping tax from 2026. | Transport and clean energy measures include a £3 bus fare cap from January 2025, increased Air Passenger Duty, and £3.9bn for the clean energy sector in 2025-26. | Devolved governments will receive an extra £6.6bn, and government-funded childcare in England will rise by £1.8bn, bringing total spending to over £8bn in 2025-26. |
Other key points
- Help to Save scheme – extended until April 2027
- Alcohol duty – tax on non-draught alcoholic drinks to increase by the usually higher RPI measure of inflation, tax on draught drinks cut by 1.7%
- Vaping products duty – new tax of £2.20 per 10ml of vaping liquid introduced from October 2026
- Tobacco duty – to increase by 2% above RPI on all tobacco products and 10% above inflation for hand-rolling tobacco with immediate effect
- Bus fares – £2 cap on single fares in England to rise to £3 from January 2025
- Clean energy sector – £3.9bn of funding in 2025-26
- Air Passenger Duty (APD) – increased for 2026-27, £1 more for domestic economy flights, £2 more for short-haul economy flights and £12 more for long-haul destinations. The higher rate applicable to private jets will rise by 50% in 2026-27
- Devolved government funding – to receive an additional £6.6bn through the operation of the Barnett formula in 2025-26 (£3.4bn for the Scottish Government, £1.7bn for the Welsh Government and £1.5bn for the Northern Ireland Executive)
- Expanding government-funded childcare support – an additional £1.8bn pledged for working parents in England, bringing total spending on childcare to over £8bn in 2025-26.
Closing comments
Rachel Reeves signed off her Budget saying, “I have made my choices, the responsible choices, to restore stability to our country, to protect working people… Fixing the foundations of our economy. Investing in our future. Delivering change. Rebuilding Britain.”
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All details are believed to be correct at the time of writing (30 October 2024)