What does the spring statement mean for you?

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, has revealed projections for growth, inflation, debt and borrowing in today’s Spring Statement.

But what does the Spring Statement mean for you? Here are some of the key points:

The Economy

Growth forecasts have been slightly downgraded to 1.2% in 2019, 1.4% in 2020 and 1.6% in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Borrowing is forecast to be £29.3bn in 2019-20 and going down to £13.5bn in 2023-24. However these forecasts were dependent on avoiding leaving the European Union (EU) without a deal.

Debt is forecast to be 82.2% as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019-20 and expected to fall to 73% in 2023-24.

Brexit

Philip Hammond announced there will be a Brexit dividend, provided we don’t leave the EU without a deal.

Benefits

Despite pressure from charities across the country, there were no announcements affecting benefits.

Period Poverty

The Chancellor announced that free sanitary products will be made available in secondary schools in England from the next school year.

There were also smaller announcements on policing, climate change, housing, tech companies and an upcoming spending review.

Alison Taylor, Director of Operations at Turn2us, outlines our concerns:

“Today’s Spring Statement was overshadowed by the day’s Brexit deliberations, but for the millions of people living in poverty, there are other more pressing concerns.

“The Chancellor did not take the opportunity to end the benefits freeze or change the five-week wait for Universal Credit; the two policies which are directly pushing hundreds of thousands of people into poverty, homelessness and debt.

“We will continue to champion the voice of the most vulnerable in our society to improve their day to day lives."