Alok Sharma, the Member of Parliament for Reading West, has welcomed the latest Government Budget.

People living and working across the South East will benefit from the latest Budget as the Government delivers on the promises made to the British people, investing in infrastructure, the NHS and public services across the region.

The plans outlined by Chancellor of the Exchequer will get things done and provide security for now while laying the foundations for prosperity in the future.

The Budget marks the start of record levels of investment in the people’s priorities – infrastructure, the NHS and public services – to ensure the promises in December’s General Election are kept and the potential of every part of the United Kingdom, including the South East, is unleashed.

The National Insurance threshold will increase to £9,500 this April, benefitting 31 million people with a typical employee saving over £100 in 2020. In addition, the National Living Wage will increase by 6.2% to £8.72 from April. Increases in the National Insurance threshold and the National Living Wage announced in the Budget will mean families keep more of the money they earn, while tens of millions of pounds of investment in the region’s roads, rail, housing, broadband and flood defences will ensure everyone can have the same chances and opportunities in life wherever they live.

Thanks to the Budget’s measures, someone working full-time on the minimum wage in the South East will be over £5,200 better off compared to ten years ago when the Conservatives came into office.

The Budget will benefit thousands of families across the Reading West constituency. It will boost local transport. It will provide £83 million of additional funding for local road maintenance in the South East through the Potholes Fund in 2020-21. It will provide £29 million a year by 2023-24 to support primary school PE teaching, ensuring children are getting an active start to life and £90 million a year to introduce an Arts Premium to secondary schools in England.

The Budget has also committed to a new £3 billion Skills Fund to ensure people gain the skills they need to get rewarding well-paid jobs. Additionally, now we have left the EU, the Government will abolish the tampon tax from 1 January 2021 and reduce the cost of essential sanitary products for women in the UK.

Alok Sharma said: “Last year’s election gave a clear verdict. Now the Government is delivering a Budget which delivers on our promises to the British people – it is the Budget of a government that gets things done. Investment will reach record levels over the next five years, as the Conservatives commit to levelling up across the country – benefitting families and businesses in all corners of the country.”

“I am delighted that the Government has set out measures to support families and help them with the cost of living, while continuing to invest in Britain’s future responsibly – laying the foundations for a decade of growth and prosperity. This is the first Budget delivered outside of the EU for more than five decades. It sets out a clear, one nation, path for the Government to get things done.”