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Economy Flashcards

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1
Q

What have we done with the personal allowance?

A

Doubled it from £6,475 under Labour to £12,000. This has taken a record number of low-paid workers out of paying income tax.

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2
Q

What have we done with the National Living Wage?

A

Consistently raised it. It will reach £10.50 an hour by 2024, giving a pay rise of £4,000 to 4 million people.

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3
Q

What is the National Living Wage?

A

Statutory minimum hourly payment for all workers over 25. Calculated as a % of medium earnings, aiming to reach 66% of median earnings by 2024. the Living Wage Foundation welcomed its introduction as a ‘pay rise for low paid workers’, but wish to see their ‘Real Living Wage’ of £9.30 an hour introduced instead (it also has a London weighting).

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4
Q

What is the difference between the Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage?

A

Minimum Wage covers workers under 25. It is a negotiated settlement based on recommendations from businesses and trade unions.

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5
Q

What is the government’s approach to borrowing?

A

No borrowing for day-to-day spending, but only to invest responsibly in infrastructure across the country that will increase productivity and wages. No public sector net investment that averages more than 3% of GDP. If debt interest reaches 6% of revenue, we will re-assess this.

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6
Q

What is the UK’s general government deficity?

A

£25.5 billion - 1.2% of GDP. The lowest it has been since 2002. In 2019, it was 1.8% below the Maastricht reference value of 3.0% set out in the Protocol on the Excessive Debt Procedure. The year ending March 2019 was the 3rd consecutive year the deficit has been below this reference value.

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7
Q

What was the general government deficit when the Conservatives came to power in 2010?

A

10% of GDP.

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8
Q

What is the UK’s general government gross debt?

A

£1,821.3 billion - 85.2% of GDP. The debt rose by £57.7 billion since the end of the March 2018 year. But, GDP is currently growing at a greater rate than the government’s debt.

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9
Q

What does our approach to borrowing mean for the general government debt?

A

It will be lower at the end of the Parliament.

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10
Q

What does the 2020 Budget mean for the National Insurance threshold?

A

It has risen to £9,500, benefiting 31 million people with a typical employee saving over £100. We intend to raise it to £12,500.

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11
Q

What does the 2020 Budget mean for the National Living Wage?

A

A 62.% increase to £8.72. It will be extended to workers aged 21 and over by 2024.

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12
Q

What does the 2020 Budget mean for the tampon tax?

A

Axing the tampon tax as of 1 January 2021 to reduce the cost of essential sanitary products.

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13
Q

What does the 2020 Budget mean for fuel duty?

A

Freezing it for the 10th year in a low to help reduce the cost of living. This has saved the average motorist a cumulative £1,200.

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14
Q

What is fuel duty?

A

Fuel Duty is included in the price you pay for petrol, diesel and other fuels used in vehicles or for heating.

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15
Q

What does the 2020 Budget mean for alcohol duties?

A

Freeze beer, cider, wine and spirits duties.

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16
Q

What does the 2020 Budget mean for taxes on shopping and services?

A

The 2nd time in almost 20 years that a government has frozen all of these duties.

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17
Q

What does the 2020 Budget mean for neonatal leave?

A

This Government will also create an entitlement to Neonatal Leave and Pay to support parents with the stress and anxiety of having a baby in neonatal care. For employees whose babies spend an extended period of time in neonatal care, we will provide up to 12 weeks’ paid leave.

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18
Q

What does the Budget 2020 mean for R&D?

A

Increasing R&;D tax credits to significantly increase investment. A target of making private R&D investment 2.4% of GDP by 2027. Increase the rate of R&D expenditure from 12% to 13%. Consult on whether to allow additional costs to qualify for R&D tax reliefs.

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19
Q

What does the Budget 2020 mean for business loans?

A

We will extend the British Business Bank’s Start-Up Loans programme, supporting up to 10,000 additional loans up and down the country.

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20
Q

What does the Budget 2020 mean for exporters?

A

Increasing the lending capacity of UK Export Finance. An additional £2 billion for UKEF. A new £2 billion lending facility for protects supporting clean growth, and an extra £1 billion to support UK defence and secufrity foods.

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21
Q

What does the Budget 2020 mean for business rates?

A

Stores with a rateable value of under £51,000 will no longer pay business rates. Sectors currently outside of the business rates discount scheme (leisure, gyms, nighclubs, B&Bs, etc.) will have the 100% retail discount extended to them for the coming year.

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22
Q

What does the Budget 2020 mean for Entrepreneurs’ Relief?

A

Changed into Business Asset Disposal Relief. Reduce the limit on eligible gains to £1 million (as recommended by the Federation of Small Businesses) to focus support for SME owners. Over 80% of those using the relief are unaffected.

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23
Q

What is Business Asset Disposal Relief?

A

You may be able to pay less Capital Gains Tax when you sell (or ‘dispose of’) all or part of your business. Business Asset Disposal Relief means you’ll pay tax at 10% on all gains on qualifying assets.

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24
Q

Since 2010, how many people have we helped into work every day?

A

Over 1,000 a day.

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25
Describe the jobs we have created since 2010.
The majority are high-quality full-time jobs outside of London and the South East.
26
What have we done in regard to NI Contributions for young people?
Abolished employers' NI Contributions for under-21s and apprentices under 25.
27
What have we promised not to raise?
Income Tax, National Insurance, or VAT.
28
By raising the NI Contribution threshold to £12,500, how much would the average person save?
£500
29
What is the government's approach to ending the disability employment gap?
We will reduce it by helping disabled people into work, increasing SEND funding, and supporting disabled people of all ages to get careers advice, internships, and support to transition into work.
30
What is the UK's status in commercial shipbuilding?
3rd in the global yacht-building rankings. In 2019, the leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine sector grew by 1.7%, growing for the 8th year in a row.
31
How are we supporting shipbuilding?
Building a fleet of 5 Type 31 warships in the UK. BEIS and DoIT are launching a new Maritime Trade and Investment Plan to keep the shipbuilding sector going.
32
Unemployment is at its lowest level since ____
1974
33
How many jobs have we created since 2010?
3.7 million
34
What will we do to the retail discount?
Expand it from 33% to 50% for businesses with a rateable value of less than £51,000. This is a £280 million tax cut for small business. The average local shop would save £1,400. Extend it to small music venues and cinemas. Costs £5 million. Introduce a new £1,000 rate relief for pubs. A £18 million tax cut.
35
How will we save pubs and post offices?
Support community groups who want to buy back their local pubs and post offices with a £150 million fund and a 9 month ban on the sale of other bidders. We introduced the Localism Act in 2011 to halt the decline in pubs, village shops, sports grounds and other facilities by allowing them to be nominated as ‘assets of community value’. This gave community groups the ability to pause the sale of an asset of community value for six months if it went on the market.
36
How will we support community groups?
Introduce a £150 million Community Ownership Fund which will help groups with the cost of preparing a bid, whether legal, commercial or planning-related, and co-fund some deserving purchases. The fund will be open to all community groups and we expect councils to facilitate bids. We will prevent owners from making agreements to sell to anyone other than a community group before the moratorium is up. As they are permitted to at the moment (though the sale cannot be formally completed until after the moratorium period.) This would be a form of preferred-bidder status for communities, though they could still be outbid at the end of the period if someone else came up with a higher offer.
37
What is our Towns Fund plan?
A £3.6 billion Towns Fund to improve local transport links and boost broadband connectivity in 100 towns. We have provided funding to the local authorities in the shortlisted towns to start preparing bids that best reflect the individual needs and circumstances of their area.
38
What is our Future High Streets Fund?
We expanded the Future High Streets Fund, confirming that another 50 towns in England will be given a share of £1 billion to redevelop their high streets, taking the total receiving support to 100 places.
39
How are we supporting new homes on the high street?
Relaxing the planning rules to allow vacant properties to be turned into homes. 27,000 premises lying vacant in England's town centres.
40
What has happened to average weekly wages in the past year?
Risen by 3.2%
41
What is our track record on employment?
32.93 million - up 4 million since 2010. At its highest level since before the financial crisis.
42
What is our track record on unemployment?
At its lowest level since 1974. Halved since 2010: now only 3.8%.
43
How will we drive greater levels of foreign investment into the UK?
Through bodies like the Northern Powerhouse, Midlands Engine, and Western Gateway, by promoting our towns, cities, and countries around the world.
44
How many people in the NE benefited from the 2020 raise to the National Living Wage?
99,000 people
45
How many people in the NE benefited from the 2020 rise in the NI threshold?
1.1 million people, lifting around 34,000 people out of paying Class 1 and Class 4 NI Contributions.
46
How much will the government provide to the Materials Processing Institute based in Middlesbrough?
£22 million to fund research in research and innovation in the steel and metals sector.
47
How much is the DIT providing for face-to-face support for exporters?
£5 million
48
How much is the DIT providing for regional champions at key overseas ports?
£2 million
49
How many people in the NW benefited from the rise in the National Living Wage?
252,000
50
How many people in the NW benefited from a rise in the NI threshold?
3.3 million people, taking 121,000 people out of paying Class 1 and Class 4 NI contributions.
51
What is our approach to business rates?
A fundamental review of the system will take place in order to reduce the burden of tax on our businesses.
52
What will we do to the Employment Allowance?
Increase it, which will be a tax cut for half a million small firms.
53
How will we support start-ups?
Government procurement, and commit to paying them on time. Expand start-up loans - which have particularly high take-up from women and BAME entrepreneurs.
54
What will we do for the Small Business Commissioner?
Strengthen its powers so that it can support small businesses that are exploited by their larger partners.
55
What is the track record of the British Business Bank?
It has supported over 90,000 smaller businesses with over £7 billion in investment or loans.
56
How will we increase Britain's exports?
Support them to become exporters.
57
What is our approach to regulation?
Achieve the right balance between supporting excellent business practice and protecting consumers and the environment. Through our Red Tape Challenge, we will ensure that regulation is sensible and proportionate. We will always consider the needs of small businesses when devising new rules.
58
What is our approach to the Apprenticeship Levy?
We will look at how we can improve the working of the Apprenticeship Levy.
59
What will we do about physical building and equipment?
Encourage investment in physical building and equipment.
60
What will we do about the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme?
Continue it in the next Parliament.
61
What will we do about the Enterprise Investment Scheme?
Continue it in the next Parliament.
62
What did we do to corporation tax?
Cut it from 28% to 19%.
63
What will we do about R&D tax credits?
Increase the tax credit rate to 13% and review the definition of R&D so that important investments in cloud computing and data, which boost productivity and innovation, are also incentivised.
64
What will we do about self-employment?
Launch a review to explore how we can better support the self-employed. That includes improving their access to finance and credit (not least mortgages), making the tax system easier to navigate, and examining how better broadband can boost home-working.
65
What % of income tax does the top 1% of earners pay?
29% - higher than at any time under the last Labour government.
66
What is our record on tax avoidance?
Since 2010, we have introduced more than 100 anti-avoidance measures. Secured more than £200 billion which would otherwise have gone unpaid - £24 billion in the last year alone. Led the international fight against aggressive tax avoidance and offshore tax havens, rewriting global rules to ensure tax is paid where profit is made. This has included committing 100 jurisdictions to ending banking secrecy.
67
What is the gap between the amount of tax that should be paid and is actually collected?
£35 billion - still too high.
68
What will our new anti-tax avoidance and evasion law do?
- Consolidate existing anti-evasion and avoidance measures and powers. - Double the maximum prison term to 14 years for individuals convicted of the most egregious examples of tax fraud. - Create a single, beefed-up Anti-Tax Evasion unit in HMRC that covers all duties and taxes, from individual errors to deliberate non-compliance - which is put on a legislative footing. - End tax abuse in the construction sector - Crack down on illicit tobacco packaging - Further measures to avoid profit-shifting by MNCs to avoid paying taxes.
69
What will we do regarding a digital services tax?
Implement a Digital Services Tax.
70
What will we do about the UK's corporate governance regime?
Strengthen it.
71
What will we do about insolvency rules and the audit regime?
Reform them so that customers and suppliers are better protected when firms like Thomas Cook go into administration (we will also carefully study the results of the ongoing investigation into its collapse).
72
What will we do about excessive executive pay and rewards for failure?
Improve incentives to attack the problem.
73
How many apprenticeships have we created since 2010?
3.8 million
74
What will we build using a new generation of British workers?
We will require a significant numbers of new UK apprenticeships for all big new infrastructure projects: new hospitals, new schools, major transport projects, and so on.
75
What is at the centrepiece of our plan to level up the skills of the UK?
A £3 billion National Skills Fund over the next Parliament. The fund will provide matching funding for individuals and SMEs for high-quality education and training. A proportion will be reserved for further strategic investment in skills, and we will consult widely on the overall design. The Fund will help to transform the lives of people who have not got onto the work ladder and lack qualifications, as well as people who are keen to return to work from, say, raising a family, or switch from one career to another.
76
What is the UK Shared Prosperity Fund?
Leaving the EU means we can take back control of the money that was being channelled via its Structural Funds. The UK SPF will ensure that people do not lose out on EU funding, and replaces the complex EU programme with a simpler, fairer system that is better tailored to our economy. It will tackle inequality and deprivation.
77
How much of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be used to give disadvantaged people the skills they need to make a success in life?
£500 million.
78
What did we do to make zero hours contracts more flexible?
Scrapped exclusivity clauses.
79
What have we done about the Taylor Review?
We have already taken forward a number of its recommendations.
80
What will we do to crack down on employers abusing employment law?
Create a single enforcement body.
81
What will we ensure workers gave the right to request?
A more predictable contract.
82
What type of working will we encourage?
Flexible working, and consult on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to.
83
What % of GDP have we pledged to spend on R&D by 2027?
2.4%
84
What agency will we set up to help R&D spending?
A new agency for high-risk, high-payoff research.
85
What areas of R&D will we focus on?
Life sciences, clean energy, space, design, computing, robotics, AI.
86
What is our ambition for life sciences?
Make the UK the leading global hub for life sciences after Brexit.
87
What will we do to long-term capital in pension funds?
Unlock long-term capital to invest in and commercialise our scientific discoveries.
88
What will we do with EU research projects?
Continue to collaborate with them, i.e. Horizon.
89
What will we use government procurement to do?
Support new ideas and new companies.
90
In the next 3 years, what is our target for free trade?
Have 80% of UK trade covered by free trade agreements.
91
Which countries will be the first to enter into free trade agreements with the UK?
The USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan.
92
How many freeports will we create around the UK?
10, benefiting some of our most deprived communities.
93
What is the Kickstart Scheme?
£2 bn scheme announced in Summer Statement 2020. Initially it will fund hundreds of thousands of new placements for young people by paying a direct grant of around £6,500 to businesses to create new, decent, high-quality jobs for young people.
94
What are we doing to encourage businesses to take on trainees?
In the Summer Statement 2020 we announced £1,000 for businesses who take on a trainee. Budget of £111 million to do this. We aim to triple the number of traineeships.
95
What are we doing to the National Careers Service?
£32 million investment in the Summer Statement 2020 to recruit more careers advisers and provide advice to 269,000 more people.
96
How many workers benefited from our public sector pay rise in July 2020?
900,000
97
How many Start Up Loans has the British Business Bank provided since we established it in 2012?
75,000 loans - more than £623 million invested in small businesses. Average loan of £8,346

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