UK Government Autumn Budget And Spending Review 2021

A stronger economy for the British people

The Chancellor of the Exchequer presented his Autumn Budget and Spending Review to Parliament today (27 October 2021).

Key points at a glance

• Fuel duty rates will be frozen UK-wide for the 12th consecutive year.
• Over £2.6 billion for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund over the Spending Review, focused on helping people into jobs and to get on in life across the UK. The Fund will at a minimum match the size of EU Funds in all nations, each year.
• Allocation of the first round of the UK-wide Levelling Up Fund with £1.7 billion of local investment in local areas. £172 million from the Levelling Up Fund for eight projects in Scotland including the redevelopment of Inverness Castle, renovation of the Westfield Roundabout in Falkirk, and a new marketplace in Aberdeen City Centre.
• Allocation of the first 21 projects to benefit from the £150 million Community Ownership Fund, which will help communities across the UK protect and manage their most treasured assets. In this round, nine projects worth £1.8 million will benefit from the Fund in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including supporting the community to save a town hall in New Galloway.
• £703 million over the next three years to improve the safety, security and efficiency of the UK border.
• Confirming eligibility criteria for the new Scale-Up Visa, to help make it quicker and easier for fast-growing businesses to bring in highly-skilled individuals.
• A 50% cut in Air Passenger Duty for flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – which is set to benefit around nine million passengers in 2023-24 and will be delivered via a new domestic band.
• A new rate of Air Passenger Duty of £91 on flights of 5,500 miles or more. These reforms apply across the UK except for the direct long-haul rates for Northern Ireland which are devolved.
• The alcohol duty system will be overhauled to make it fairer and more straightforward, with drinks taxed in proportion to their alcohol content and duty rules simplified.
• A further £8 million from Project Gigabit to deliver full fibre broadband to 3,600 premises in Scotland including Aberdeenshire, Angus, Highland, Moray and Perth and Kinross.

This Spending Review also provides an additional £8.7 billion per year to the devolved administrations through the Barnett formula. The Scottish Government will benefit from a £4.6 billion per year funding boost.

Further information

Read the Budget and Spending Review in full on the UK Government website.

Read the speech as delivered by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on the UK Government website.