The Budget 2013: Losers
George Osborne’s 2013 Budget claimed a few victims, but who exactly will be worse off as a result?
Tax breaks and benefits have been funded by state spending cuts elsewhere.
[Budget 2013: The key points]
So who will lose out?
Public sector workers
Public sector worker pay rises have been capped at 1% for an extra year – meaning it won’t be until 2015/16 that they can hope to see their pay rise more. Public sector pay increases will have now been capped for five years.
Secrecy
Perhaps the greatest leak of all time: Before the Chancellor had even stood up to make his speech, the Evening Standard’s front page, including all the key points of the Budget was available online.
In a statement, Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands, said: "An investigation is immediately under way into how this front page was made public and the individual who tweeted the page has been suspended while this takes place.
"We have immediately reviewed our procedures. We are devastated that an embargo was breached and offer our heartfelt apologies."
The last time this happened was in 1947, when Hugh Dalton leaked key parts of his Budget to a reporter on the old London evening paper, The Star. The news of a penny on a pint of beer and a tax on dog racing appeared in the paper before Dalton had reached that point in his speech. He resigned the following day, with Prime Minister Clement Attlee calling him "a perfect ass".
Non-beer drinkers
Alcohol duty will keep rising at 2% above inflation – except on beer, which saw the tax on it actually fall.
[The Budget 2013: Winners]
Banks
The bank levy has been increased to 0.142% so that they aren’t able to benefit from the lower corporate rate tax of 20%.
Tax avoiders
A number of tax avoidance schemes have been shut down through agreements with the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey, and the Treasury will name and shame anyone promoting “aggressive” tax avoidance schemes from now on.
Wealthy working parents with fewer children
A change to tax breaks on the cost of childcare will benefit working parents earning £150,000 or less but won’t be worth as much as the current system to wealthy working parents.
Economic growth
The Chancellor revealed further downgrades by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). GDP growth is now halved for this year to 0.6%, with 1.8% expected in 2014, 2.3% in 2015, 2.7% in 2016 and 2.8% in 2017.
[Full coverage of Chancellor George Osborne's 2013 Budget speech]