Spring Statement 2022: key announcements from Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s mini budget speech

Rishi Sunak has announced that the threshold for paying National Insurance will increase and fuel duty will be cut by 5p during his Spring Statement.

He also pledged to cut income tax by 1p in 2024 and scrap VAT on materials such as solar panels, heat pumps and insulation in a bid to help homeowners install more energy saving materials.

The fuel duty tax cut will come into effect from 6pm on Wednesday (23 March) and will stay in place until next March, the Chancellor said.

The plan to increase the threshold at which people start paying national insurance contributions by £3,000 to £12,570 comes in place from July.

He promised to cut the basic rate of income tax from 20p in the pound to 19 in 2024 – “a £5 billion tax cut for over 30 million people”.

Mr Sunak also said that inflation - which reached a 30-year high in February - is forecast to increase even further this year to 7.4%.

He said this was due to “disruptions to global supply chains and energy markets, combined with the economic response to Putin’s aggression”.

He said the UK’s actions against Mr Putin’s regime are “not cost-free for us at home” and present a “risk” to the recovery.

Here we take a look at the Chancellor’s pledges and the reaction to his Spring Statement.