Budget 2010: Simonne's summary

Why does the Budget have to be as dull as dishwater?

One twitterer (is that a word?!) captured my sentiment in the following tweet:

"Alistair Darling has made as much of an impact as farting at thunder!".

There was lots to grab the headlines to keep most of the electorate sweet, unless you’re a cider drinking, chain- smoker buying a property worth over £1m!

From what I can see he played it really safe, not giving the Opposition any ammunition in the run-up to the election.

Anyhow, here’s a brief summary of some of the highlights:

· ISA allowances to increase in line with inflation from 2011 (maximum £10,200 from 6 April).

· 0% stamp duty threshold to rise from £125K to £250K for first time buyers.

· Stamp duty to rise from 4% to 5% for properties above £1m.

· Child tax credit to rise by £4 per week for one and two year olds from 2012.

· Cider duty to increase by 10% above inflation, compared to 2% for other alcohol and 1% on tobacco.

· A £2.5bn one-off growth package for small businesses, paid for from existing spending and banker bonus tax.

· No change on the amount you can inherit without paying inheritance tax.

· No change to capital gains tax other than reducing the tax rate to 10% for the first £2m of gains for entrepreneurs.

· Aiming to improve financial inclusion, by making sure everyone can have a basic bank account.

· Support for under 24s out of work for more than six months.

• Mortgage support for the unemployed for six more months.

Hope that was fun reading! Lots more available from the BBC website.

Thanks, Simonne, for summing up for us.

I'm off for some strong cider now...