Another Purchase

It's been another very cold and murky day today. I did an hour in the garden, but it was a bit too cold. Then I had my Sainsbury's delivery and was listening to the budget. What a difficult challenge, but I think the Chancellor was right to try to invest and grow our way out of the huge Covid debt we're creating. I thought it was quite balanced, although apart from Covid support, there was little about tackling thorny issues like improving the NHS / Social Care and tackling climate change. Having worked in banking, I disagree with the Govt underwriting 95% mortgages for those who can only afford a 5% deposit - that type of lending led to the banking crash. I'm also a bit sceptical about the risk of removing some restrictions on what pension funds can invest in - but not much detail given on this. I hope the budget tactics work, certainly creating a culture of optimism and positivity and supporting investment must be beneficial. This Wrendale is another online purchase - got to do our bit in supporting the economy ;)

Day 352 / Day 57 of Lockdown 3 (for my record only)
UK deaths up 315 to 123,783 incl additional 172 cases from Scotland since start (revised basis), with 6,385 new cases, 12,849 patients in hospital, 1,709 on ventilation and 725 new admissions. 20.7m have now received their first dose of the vaccine. Another study gives positive results from our vaccine programme, looking at the incidence of symptomatic illness severe enough to be admitted to hospital 14 days after vaccination, with the Pfizer jab cutting this by 79.3% and AZ by 80.4% in over 80s. Dolly Parton got her vaccination with the Moderna vaccine which she donated $1m to help develop - brilliant. The US will have enough vaccines for all adults by the end of May.  A new study is to examine vaccine responses in patients with impaired immunity. The contactless payment limit is being increased again to £100 with pin entry still required after 5 payments, but increasing the value to £300 - a very steep rise over the pandemic which is bound to increase fraud. 

In the budget: furlough is extended until end Sept with employer contribution in July of 10% and 20% in Aug/Sept; 2 more self-employed grants and 600k who became self employed before the pandemic can claim these if they've filed a tax return; the extra £20 pw increase in Universal Credit is extended 6 mths; one-off £500 for working tax credit claimants; re-start grants to certain businesses in Apr; a new business recovery loan scheme 80% guaranteed by Govt; improved offsetting of losses against tax for businesses; incentive payments for hiring new apprentices doubled to £3k and traineeships trebled; help to grow scheme for small businesses; business rates holiday extended to end June for retail, hospitality and leisure (further discount for next 9 mths); reduced 5% VAT for hospitality & tourism extended to end Sept, then 12.5% until Apr; stamp duty holiday extended to end June then no duty on purchases up to £250k until end Sept; Govt to guarantee 95% mortgages; business investment incentivised; UK Infrastructure Bank to be set up in Leeds re 'green industrial revolution' projects; 8 freeports being created; visa reforms to attract international talent; pension fund restrictions to be amended to allow investment in new ventures; new savings product to be launched to support green projects; BoE remit changed to include environmental sustainability; £700m to support arts, culture & sports; £150m fund for communities to take ownership of pubs, theatres, shops and sports clubs at risk of being lost; £100m to set up HMRC taskforce to tackle Covid support scheme fraud; and £1.65bn for vaccine rollout. Debt to be paid for over decades, but current tax raising by increasing corporation tax to 25% in Apr 2023, with 70% of small companies still on 19%; personal income tax and higher rate thresholds to be frozen from next yr until 2026; thresholds for inheritance tax, pensions lifetime allowance, and CGT exemptions all being frozen until 25/26, planned duty increases cancelled. OBR said our recovery should now be swifter and more sustained than it previously forecast, but that after 5 years our economy would still be 3% smaller than what it would have been, with a max unemployment rate forecast of 6.5% (700k lost jobs since pandemic began). £352bn Covid support for this year and next. A worrying figure to me was that whilst our debt is manageable at the moment, a 1% increase in interest rates and inflation would cost us an extra £25bn.