Budget 2021: Rishi Sunak unveils bumper Budget with cheaper booze, Universal Credit boost and minimum wage hikes

RISHI Sunak today swiped the nation's credit card with a cash-splashing Budget of cheaper booze, Universal Credit boosts and minimum wage hikes.

The Chancellor seized upon a roaring economic bounceback to reveal a "historically" big £150bn pot to fund a blizzard of fresh announcements.

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In major wins he announced measures to fix the delivery crisis, poured millions into our World Cup bid, scrapped the pay freeze for teachers and cops and canned a feared rise in fuel duty.

Despite the spending spree Mr Sunak insisted he won't "leave our economy adrift with reckless unfunded pledges" by plunging us deeper into the red.

It means the Brits are being clobbered with the highest taxes since the Second World War - but Rishi wants to CUT taxes before the next election.

Bullish Mr Sunak told the nation: "My goal is to reduce taxes. By the end of this Parliament, I want taxes to be going down not up.

"I want this to be a society that rewards energy, ingenuity and inventiveness. A society that rewards work."

Key Budget announcements include:

• A tax cut to beer from tonight and cuts to rose and fruit cider in 2023
• A 50 per cent discount on business rates for boozers and hospitality firms
• A pack of fags is due to rise to £13.60 from tonight
• The Universal Credit taper cut by 8 per cent to allow claimants to keep more of their money
• A wage boost for millions of public sector workers as the pay freeze was scrapped
• A freeze in HGV tax and new lorry parks to help end the supply crisis
• A rise in the minimum wage to £9.50 in a hike for two million Brits
• A tax hike for "ultra long haul" flights for holidaymakers from April 2023
• A further £6bn to clear the NHS backlog that's groaning after lockdown
• A new £5bn pot for research and development into health
• A £2bn boost to build houses on brownfield land equivalent to 2,000 footie pitches
• £5billion to remove unsafe cladding after Grenfell
• A £3bn skills funding with more bootcamp places for youngsters
• Half a billion pounds to sharpen up maths skills for 500,000 adults
• Funding for up to 8,000 new sports pitches and 300 scout huts
• A culture boost with £850m pumped into museums and galleries
• An extra £435m to cut crime with more CCTV, street lights and help for victims
• A further £700m to bolster border controls and fund a fleet to patrol migrant boats

NOW UC ME

Mr Sunak's surprise rabbit from the hat was a boost to Universal Credit to allow claimants to keep more of the cash they earn through working.

As revealed by The Sun last night, Mr Sunak will cut the taper rate from 63p - slashing it by 8 per cent to 55p while also raising the Work Allowances by £500.

Mr Sunak said the changes to come in "within weeks" and will save a couple renting a home with two children £1,800 every single year."

Ministers have refused relentless calls from campaigners including Marcus Rashford to keep the £20-a-week uplift to the rate hiked during lockdown.

To cheers from fellow Tories Mr Sunak trumpeted: "This is a £2bn tax cut for the lowest paid workers in the country. It supports working families. It helps with the cost of living. And it rewards work."

But critics say the government's wage boosts for the lowest earners and public sector workers are piecemeal and will be wiped out as inflation rises to 4 per cent.

Labour's shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves hammered her opposite number for not cutting VAT on energy bills.

CHEERS TO THAT

Pubs and restaurants were given reason to cheer as Rishi slashed business rates for hospitality firms by 50 per cent for one year.

He also knocked 3p off the price of a £3.80 pint of beer and 64p off a bottle of £18 English sparking wine.

But stronger wines like port and cherry will be slapped with larger levies meaning they'll get more expensive.

Hailing the post-Brexit victory, the teetotal Chancellor - who sipped water during his speech - said: "We are taking advantage of leaving the EU to announce the most radical simplification of alcohol duties for over 140 years.W

Mr Sunak's second Budget of the year comes amid dire warnings of a tough winter with families facing higher prices.

He is trying to straddle competing promises to balance the books after lockdown while also protecting households from a cost of living crisis as energy bills soar.

Mr Sunak gave a rosy picture of the nation's economy by hailing rising employment, investment and wages.

He revealed the economy is now expected to recover fully from Covid by the end of the year, earlier than initially predicted last March.

Leaping on the positive outlook, he vowed to throw an arm around vulnerable families and businesses still treading water after lockdown.

But the Chancellor insisted we need to fix the roof while the sun is shining by getting the finances back on to a more even keel.

He said refused to "abandon our fiscal anchor and leave our economy adrift with reckless unfunded pledges."

Mr Sunak unveiled strict new rules forcing him to cut borrowing - "because this isn’t the government's money, this is taxpayer's money."

Announcing a new Charter for Budget Responsibility he said: "Coronavirus left us with borrowing higher than at any time since the Second World War.

"As the Prime Minister reminded us in his conference speech: Higher borrowing today is just higher interest rates and even higher taxes tomorrow.

"So we need to strengthen our public finances so that when the next crisis comes, we have the fiscal space to act."

To get the nation's coffers fighting fit for the "post-Covid" era, he plans to have Britain's £2.2TRILLION national debt falling by the next election.

Government departments are preparing to tighten their belts by 5 per cent of total spending by 2025.

But he also chucked money at public services to carry forward Boris Johnson's flagship policy of levelling up.

Mr Sunak said: "For too long, far too long, the location of your birth has determined too much of your future.

"Because the awesome power of opportunity shouldn’t be available only to a wealthy few, but be the birth right of every child in an independent and prosperous United Kingdom."

SPENDING SPREE

It includes funding to cut crime, "level up" transport in the North, catch illegal migrants, help youngsters sharpen up their skills and for more footie pitches.

A further £6billion has also been earmarked to tackle the groaning NHS backlog that has piled high with patients during lockdown.

Hubs across the country for people to get MRI and CT scans are hoped to slash long waiting lists.

The new money confirmed by the Chancellor comes on top of a £12billion-a-year health increase unveiled last month along with wallet-whacking 1.25 per cent tax rises in National Insurance Contributions and dividend payments.

Raging Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has scolded Mr Sunak for briefing announcements in advance rather than in the House of Commons.

He even suggested the Chancellor "resign" as predecessor Hugh Dalton did in 1947 after letting slip some key policies on his way to Parliament.

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: "In the long story of this Parliament, never has a Chancellor asked the British people to pay so much for so little, loading the burden on working people with tax rises and wasting billions of pounds of taxpayer money."