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Articles by Matthew Keep
Football Governance Bill [HL] 2024-25
The Football Governance Bill [HL] was introduced in the House of Lords on 24 October 2024 where it completed its stages on 26 March 2025. The bill had its first reading in the House of Commons the following day and is scheduled to have its second reading on 28 April 2025. The bill is very similar to a bill introduced under the previous Conservative government which did not complete its parliamentary stages before the 2024 general election.
Spring Statement 2025: A summary
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, presented her 2025 Spring Statement to Parliament on 26 March and published supporting documents on the gov.uk website. When the Chancellor finished her statement in the Commons, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published updated forecasts for the UK’s economic and fiscal outlook. The OBR is the independent public finances watchdog that produces the official forecasts for the economy and public finances used by the Chancellor.
Spring Statement 2025: Background briefing
On 26 March 2025, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish revised forecasts for the economy and public finances. The OBR is the independent public finances watchdog, which produces the official forecasts for the economy and public finances used by the Chancellor. It must produce two forecasts each financial year. In each forecast the OBR judges whether the Chancellor is on course to meet their targets for the public finances (often referred to as the fiscal rules).
Changes to agricultural and business property reliefs for inheritance tax
Overview of inheritance tax in the UK Inheritance tax is a tax charged on the estate of someone who has died. Tax is charged at a 40% rate if the estate exceeds a threshold, known as the nil-rate band, set at £325,000. There are several important reliefs, such as the spousal relief, in addition to the nil-rate band. An inheritance tax relief reduces increases the tax-free threshold, or reduces the value of an asset, therefore reducing the amount of tax payable.
Autumn Budget 2024: Reaction
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, presented her 2024 Autumn Budget to Parliament on 30 October and published supporting documents on the gov.uk website. She is the first woman to deliver a UK Budget. This is the Labour Party’s first Budget for more than 14 years. When the Chancellor finished her statement in the Commons, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published updated forecasts for the UK’s economic and fiscal outlook.
Autumn Budget 2024: A summary
The Chancellor of the Exchequer will present her 2024 Autumn Budget to Parliament on 30 October. Once the Chancellor finishes her statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish updated forecasts in its economic and fiscal outlook. The Library’s briefing will include the key policy announcements and a summary of the OBR’s forecasts.
Autumn Budget 2024: Background briefing
On 30 October 2024, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will deliver the new Labour government’s first Budget. She is the first female Chancellor and will be the first woman to deliver a Budget. Departments’ spending plans for the rest of 2024/25 and 2025/26 will be set in the first part of the ‘Spending Review’ process. Plans for 2026/27 and 207/28 will be set next spring.
Budget Responsibility Bill
The Budget Responsibility Bill was introduced to Parliament on 18 July 2024. The bill is due to have its second reading on 30 July. The bill, together with its explanatory notes and delegated powers memorandum, are available on the Parliament website: Budget Responsibility Bill. Related draft text to be included in a revised Charter for Budget Responsibility has also been published.
The Barnett formula and fiscal devolution
The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland receive grants from the UK Government that fund most of their spending. The largest such grant is the ‘block grant’. The Barnett formula calculates the annual change in the block grant. The formula doesn’t determine the total size of the block grant just the yearly change. For devolved services, the Barnett formula aims to give each country the same pounds-per-person change in funding.
Spring Budget 2024: Reaction
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, presented his 2024 Spring Budget to Parliament on 6 March and published supporting documents on the gov.uk website. When the Chancellor finished his statement in the Commons, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published updated forecasts for the UK’s economic and fiscal outlook. The OBR is the independent public finances watchdog, which produces the official forecasts for the economy and public finances used by the Chancellor.
Spring Budget 2024: A summary
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, presented his 2024 Spring Budget to Parliament on 6 March and published supporting documents on the gov.uk website. When the Chancellor finished his statement in the Commons, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published updated forecasts for the UK’s economic and fiscal outlook. The OBR is the independent public finances watchdog, which produces the official forecasts for the economy and public finances used by the Chancellor.
Spring Budget 2024: Background briefing
The Chancellor will present his Budget to the House of Commons on 6 March. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish revised forecasts for the economy and public finances on the same day as the Budget statement. The OBR is the independent public finances watchdog, which produces the official forecasts for the economy and public finances used by the Chancellor.
Constituency data: businesses
This page provides constituency-level data on businesses. Single constituency Find which constituency you live in Use the dropdown menu below to select the constituency you’re interested in and view key statistics. If you would like to access this information in an alternative format please email papers@parliament.uk and we will review your request. Compare constituencies Use the dropdown menu below to select the constituencies you want to compare.
UK participation in EU programmes: Horizon Europe and Copernicus
The UK and EU agreed revised terms of participation in September 2023. This was followed by the formal adoption by the UK and EU of a Protocol on Programmes and activities in which the UK participates (Protocol I) in December 2023. Protocol I provides for UK participation in: Copernicus–one of the EU space programmes, covering earth observation through satellite, land, sea and air surveillance systems. Horizon Europe– the EU’s flagship programme for research and innovation for 2021-2027.
Autumn Statement 2023: Reaction
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, presented his 2023 Autumn Statement to Parliament on 22 November and published supporting documents. Once the Chancellor had finished his statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published updated forecasts for the UK’s economic and fiscal outlook. As the Library briefing Autumn Statement 2023: Background briefing explains, UK economic growth has been weak since early 2022.
Autumn Statement 2023: A summary
The Chancellor of the Exchequer will present his 2023 Autumn Statement to Parliament on 22 November. Once the Chancellor finishes his statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish updated forecasts in its economic and fiscal outlook. The Library’s briefing will include the key policy announcements and a summary of the OBR’s forecasts.
Autumn Statement 2023: Background briefing
The Chancellor will present his Autumn Statement to the House of Commons on 22 November. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish revised forecasts for the economy and public finances on the same day as the statement. The OBR is the independent public finances watchdog, which produces the official forecasts for the economy and public finances used by the Chancellor.
Public Finances: Key Economic Indicators
Government borrowed £70 billion during April–August 2023/24, £19 billion more than in the same period last year. Borrowing was £11 billion less than the OBR forecast in March 2023. Government debt was equivalent to 98.8% of GDP at the end of August 2023. If we remove the Bank of England’s (BoE’s) debt, we get an alternative measure of government’s underlying debt. Government debt (excluding the BoE) was 89.8% of GDP at the end of August 2023; it was 83.7% at the end of August 2022.
The new alcohol duty system
On 1 August 2023, the Government implemented a major restructure of the taxation of alcohol. This briefing analyses the structure of the new system, rates, and reliefs, in comparison to the former arrangements. It discusses the parliamentary and professional commentary of the new system and looks at the process through which the changes were implemented. What is alcohol duty?
Northern Ireland Budget (No. 2) Bill 2022-23
The Northern Ireland Budget (No. 2) Bill 2022-23 was introduced to the House of Commons on 29 June 2023. The Government’s intention is for all the Bill’s Commons stages to be taken on 10 July, subject to a Business of the House motion. The Bill authorises the use of certain resources for public services in Northern Ireland for the year ending 31 March 2024.
Housing Market: Key Economic Indicators
House prices, as measured by the UK House Price Index, decreased by 0.6% between January 2023 and January 2024. On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices increased by 1.1% between December 2023 and January 2024. House prices changed at different rates across the UK’s countries and regions over the year to January. House prices grew fastest in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the North West and West Midlands.
Taxation of North Sea oil and gas
What taxes are paid on North Sea oil and gas? Companies operating in the North Sea pay four separate profit-related taxes on oil and gas production: ring fence corporation tax, supplementary charge, petroleum revenue tax (PRT), and the energy profits levy. Total receipts from these taxes were £5.0 billion in 2023/24. Ring fence corporation tax, supplementary charge and PRT are long-standing components of the North Sea fiscal regime, while the energy profits levy was introduced in May 2022.
Mileage Allowance Payments
What are Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs)? HM Revenue and Customs defines Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs) as the amounts paid to employees to reimburse them for using a personal vehicle for business travel. The reimbursement might be paid as a lump sum, a fixed rate per mile, or a reimbursement for the actual expenditure incurred. Reimbursing employee business travel is fully at the discretion of the employer. What are Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs)?
Local Government Finance Settlement 2022/23
The provisional 2022/23 Local Government Finance Settlement was published on 17 December 2021. It includes about £14.9 billion in settlement funding for local councils in England, a 2.2% decrease on the previous year when adjusted for inflation. With other grants and an estimate of council tax included, the core spending power of councils in England will rise to £53.9 billion in 2022/23, a real-terms increase of 4.1% compared to the previous year.
House of Commons Library
The welfare cap is a limit on the amount that government can spend on certain social security benefits and tax credits. The cap aims to better control spending in an area that can be difficult for government to control. The cap included 50% of total welfare spending in 2021/22. It excludes pensions and those payments most sensitive to the economic cycle.
House of Commons Library
The Charter for Budget Responsibility In the Charter for Budget Responsibility, the Government sets out how its management of the public finances operates. This ‘fiscal framework’ includes: the Government’s objective for manging the public finances and its targets for meeting the objective. The targets are often referred to as the fiscal targets the frequency of Budget Reports, their broad contents and how parliament shall scrutinise them.
Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021: a summary
This Budget was the first delivered by Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, that wasn’t dominated by managing the pandemic, although the impact of the coronavirus was still front and centre in the policy decisions taken. Along with the Budget, the Chancellor announced the results of the Spending Review. This sets departmental budgets for the following three years, up to 2024/25. It was the first multi-year spending review since 2015.
Background to the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021
Due to the rollout of coronavirus vaccines, the pandemic in the UK is greatly improved, compared with last autumn. Most legal restrictions introduced to control the spread of the coronavirus have been lifted. However, there is still uncertainty about the path of the pandemic and the outlook for the economy and public finances. The Spending Review 2021 The Spending Review will set out the Government’s spending plans for each government department for the next three financial years.
Public spending during the Covid-19 pandemic
How much was spent on Covid-19 measures? The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in very high levels of public spending. Current estimates of the total cost of government Covid-19 measures range from about £310 billion to £410 billion. This is the equivalent of about £4,600 to £6,100 per person in the UK. Official figures show that spending in 2020/21 was about £179 billion higher than had been planned before the pandemic for that year.
Carbon Price Floor (CPF) and the price support mechanism
The Carbon Price Floor (CPF) is a UK Government policy implemented to support the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The CPF was introduced on 1 April 2013 to underpin the price of carbon at a level that drives low carbon investment, which the EU ETS has not achieved. What is the CPF? The CPF taxes fossil fuels used to generate electricity via Carbon Price Support rates set under the Climate Change Levy.
Spring Budget 2021: A summary
The Library will publish a summary of the Budget in the evening of 3 March. In the meantime, our briefing Spring Budget 2021: Background briefing looks at the key questions for the economy and public finances. The briefing also summarises the virus-related support measures that the Chancellor introduced during 2020/21.
Spring Budget 2021: Background briefing
FAQs: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme This Commons Library briefing paper provides answers to frequently asked questions on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. It covers the rules that apply from 1 November 2020. It also contains a discussion of excluded workers and furlough fraud. Diseases Economic policy Work and incomes
The UK's contribution to the EU budget
The UK’s contribution to the EU budget As a member of the EU the UK made payments, or contributions, to the EU budget. The UK also received funding, or receipts, from the EU for various agricultural, social, economic development and competitiveness programmes. The UK received a rebate from the EU which reduced its contribution. The rebate aimed to correct the issue of the UK making relatively large net contributions to the EU. The UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020.
Brexit: the financial settlement - in detail
A shorter briefing Brexit: the financial settlement – a summary covers what the settlement is and how much it might cost. In the financial settlement (the settlement), the UK and EU have set out how they will settle their outstanding financial obligations to each other. The obligations arise out of the UK’s participation in the EU budget and broader aspects of its EU membership.
2020 Spending Review summary
On Wednesday (25 November 2020), the Chancellor delivered the 2020 Spending Review, setting out plans for Government spending for 2021/22. On the same day, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) produced its most recent set of forecasts both for the economy in general and the Government’s spending and borrowing. This Insight summarises some of what the Chancellor and OBR said, and what this might mean for the economy and public finances over the next few years.
The UK economy: a dashboard
The dashboard allows you to investigate how the UK economy has performed over the past 70 years, including during the coronavirus pandemic. It features the latest data and is updated every time the Office for National Statistics publishes new data. For each topic, links are provided to relevant Library briefings and Office for National Statistics (ONS) publications for further information. Data can be downloaded as spreadsheets (csv files).
Country and regional public sector finances
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates how much the UK public sector spends for the benefit of each UK country and region and how much tax and other revenues are raised from each. The difference between spending and revenue is the area’s net fiscal balance. In this Library briefing: A negative net fiscal balance indicates that public sector spending in the region is greater than revenues raised in the area. The region has a net fiscal deficit.
Tax statistics: an overview
In 2023/24, UK government raised around £1,099 billion (£1.1 trillion) in receipts – income from taxes and other sources. This is equivalent to around 40% of the size of the UK economy, as measured by GDP. Receipts were last consistently around 40% of GDP in the early-1980s. Most receipts come from three main sources: income tax, National Insurance contributions (NICs) and value added tax (VAT). Together they raised around £625 billion in 2023/24. source: ONS.
The budget deficit: a short guide
1. What is the budget deficit and how big is it? When the government spends more than it receives in tax and other revenues it borrows to cover the difference. This borrowing is known as ‘public sector net borrowing’ but is often referred to as the deficit. In 2019/20, government revenue – from taxes and other receipts – was £828 billion while government spending was £884 billion. The deficit was therefore £56 billion, equivalent to 2.5% of GDP.
Coronavirus: Economic impact
This briefing was last updated on 22 October. This is a fast-moving crisis, so please be aware that information may have changed since the date of publication. The Library intends to update this briefing. The coronavirus outbreak has impacted the economy in many ways. From the lockdown restrictions shutting down many businesses to limits on mobility, voluntary and enforced, the economic impact has been severe.
Spring Budget 2020: Background briefing
A Budget was planned for autumn 2019, but it was delayed by the 2019 General Election. The Conservatives won the election and have a majority in Parliament of over 80 seats. This is the first budget since the UK formally left the EU. The UK is currently in a transition period during which nearly all EU rules will continue to apply. The transition period is set to end after 31 December 2020. A future relationship is being negotiated by the UK and EU for the post-transition period.
Public Finances: Key Economic Indicators
Net borrowing Government borrowing in the current financial year to date (April to December 2019) was £54.6 billion. This is £4 billion more than during the same period in 2018/19, an increase of 8%. Net debt At the end of December 2019, public sector net debt was equivalent to 80.8% of GDP which is lower than at the end of December 2018, when the debt-to-GDP ratio was 81.7%. The OBR have restated their March 2019 forecasts to allow for accounting changes made by the ONS in September 2019.
The Barnett formula
The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland receive grants from the UK Government that fund most of their spending. The largest such grant is the ‘block grant’. The Barnett formula calculates the annual change in the block grant. The formula doesn’t determine the total size of the block grant just the yearly change. For devolved services, the Barnett formula aims to give each country the same pounds-per-person change in funding.
Tax statistics: an overview
UK government raises over £800 billion a year in receipts – income from taxes and other sources – equivalent to around 38% of GDP. The majority are from three main sources: income tax, National Insurance contributions (NICs) and value added tax (VAT). Together these raise over £460 billion. Income tax contributes £193 billion. Recent trends Between 2007/08 and 2009/10 receipts fell by around 1% of GDP, following the financial crisis and recession of 2008 and 2009.
Background to the 2019 Spending Round
The Spending Round is part of the financial planning cycle, and will set some of the spending limits for Government departments for financial year 2020-21. This is in place of the full three-year Spending Review that had originally been planned for this year, and which has now been postponed to 2020. The Government has already made a number of spending commitments, for example in the areas of defence, international aid, and spending on the NHS.
Debate on a Motion of Section 5 of the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993
This landing page gives background to the debate on a motion of section 5 of the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993, which will take place on 26 March 2019. The motion for debate The UK is required to send an annual Convergence Programme to the European Commission programme reporting upon its fiscal situation and policies. The requirement comes from Article 121 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
Spring Statement 2019: A summary
The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave his Spring Statement 2019 to Parliament on 13 March and published a Written Ministerial Statement with further details. Once the Chancellor finished his speech the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published updated forecasts in its Economic and Fiscal Outlook. Brexit The Spring Statement was delivered at a time when Parliament’s focus was on the UK’s exit from the EU.
Economic Indicators, Spring Statement 2019 Edition
The Library briefing paper Spring Statement 2019: Background briefing contains background information on the 2019 Spring Statement, which will take place on Wednesday 13 March 2019. This is a slightly amended version of the summary of that paper. The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, will make his Spring Statement on 13 March 2019. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish revised forecasts for the economy and public finances on the same day.
Spring Statement 2019: Background briefing
The Chancellor’s statement is likely to largely be a response to the OBR’s forecasts. Brexit: votes in Parliament Spring Statement 2019 is set to take place at a time when Parliament’s attention will be focused on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. In particular, the House of Commons is set to have a ‘meaningful vote’ on the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement and framework for the future relationship on or before 12 March 2019.
The European Economic Area
Introduction Some have called for the UK to remain a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) after Brexit. Others regard this as keeping the UK in too close a relationship with the EU. This briefing paper describes the main features of the EEA, its institutional structure, pros and cons of EEA membership, the arguments around the process of withdrawing from the EEA and suggestions for other bespoke future relations with the EEA.
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