As it happened: Philip Hammond’s first – and final – spring Budget
Philip Hammond has finished his Budget announcement. The stand out points? £2bn in funding for social care – although only half will come in the next year; money for new schools; help for businesses – including pubs – that will be hit hardest by the business rates hike. There’s only one policy which will grab the headlines tomorrow, though: the broken manifesto pledge made by the Tories not to hike National Insurance contributions. Instead, Hammond announced that Britain’s five million self-employed workers will see the rates they pay jump by two per cent over the coming years. Follow all the coverage as it happened on our Spectator live blog: 1.35pm: Jeremy
