Wales Economy News

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams has welcomed the Chancellor's decision to raise the point at which people start paying tax to £10,000 from next year. She said:

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have today accomplished our number one manifesto pledge by raising the tax threshold all the way to £10,000. We are ensuring that 130,000 of the lowest paid workers in Wales will be lifted completely out of the income tax system while over a million people will receive a £700 tax cut. This is an historic achievement and one that will greatly help hard working families in Wales.

• Politics
• Kirsty Williams
• Welsh Liberal Democrats

Here are some of the measures announced by Chancellor George Osborne that could affect voters' wallets:

• Rise in personal allowance brought forward to 2014, meaning no income tax on the first £10,000 of earnings
• Tax free child care vouchers worth £1,200 per child and increased support for families with children on universal credit
• Flat rate pension worth £144 a week to be brought forward to 2016

• Fuel duty rise scrapped
• Help for Equitable Life policy holders extended to those who bought with-profits annuities before 1992, with payments of £5,000 and extra £5,000 for those on lowest incomes
• Planned 3p rise in beer duty tax scrapped and replaced by a 1p cut in duty on a pint of beer

• New Help-to-Buy scheme for those struggling to find mortgage deposits will include £3.5 billion for shared equity loans, and a Government interest-free loan worth 20% of the value of a new build house
• Cap-on social care costs to come in in 2017 and protect savings above £72,000

• Money
• Economy
• Budget

The Treasury's figures, released as the Chancellor sat down, state that the Welsh Government will have £1.3 billion to spend on capital projects in 2013-14. That's £0.2 billion more than was estimated for 2013-14 under last year's budget plans.

However, it's down on the £1.4 billion the Treasury now estimates will be the total capital spending in 2012-13. The main revenue spending total for 2013-14 remains £13.5 billion.

• Politics
• Welsh Government
• Treasury

Raising the point where you start paying tax to £10,000 by next year will mean 12,000 people in Wales won't pay any income tax and 1.1 million will pay less, according to Wales Office estimates.

• Politics
• Budget
• Economy

According to the Wales Office, the Chancellor's decision to cancel the planned increase in fuel tax will benefit 1.8m motorists in Wales and save them an average of £25 a year.

• Politics
• Budget
• Economy

September's planned fuel duty rise has been scrapped.

• Politics
• Budget
• Economy

According to the Wales Office, the Welsh Government will receive extra capital funding (for big infrastructure projects) of £161m. As Wales Office minister Stephen Crabb has already said when a new cut to the Welsh budget is taken into consideration, it amounts to an increase of £104m

The Wales Office says that means the Welsh Government will have received an extra £850m over the UK Government's spending review period.

• Politics
• Budget
• Economy

The Chancellor is encouraging early investment in shale gas with a "generous" new tax regime.

• Politics
• Budget
• Economy

The Welsh Government will get an extra £104m over the next two years from the budget, according to the Wales Office minister Stephen Crabb. He says that Wales will only see its budget reduced by 0.2% compared to a 1% cut in other Whitehall departments.

And he says that cut will be off-set by an increase in the knock-on effect of spending in England on devolved areas like health and education, meaning a small increase of £104m.

• Politics
• Wales Office
• Welsh Government

The Chancellor has just announced a 1% cut in spending by UK government departments. But he says health, schools and local government will not be affected -all three are major factors in deciding the amount of money allocated to the Welsh Government.

• Politics
• Budget
• Economy