2020 United Kingdom budget

The 2020 United Kingdom budget was delivered by David Gauke, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on Wednesday, 11 March 2020. This was Gauke's first budget as Chancellor, and the first budget of the Osborne government formed after Osborne's succession of David Cameron as Conservative leader and Prime Minister.

Background
The budget took place in a background of continuous economic growth, at around 2.7% in 2019. Unemployment and inflation were both relatively low, though the latter was rising. The UK economy had been in a period of continuous growth for 8 years, and had not experienced a technical recession for 11 years. Given as a general election was due to take place in May 2020, just two months after the budget, it was widely expected that the budget would include "pre-election giveaways" in order to shore up the Conservatives' chances of winning.

The Office for Budget Responsibility projected that the economy would grow by 2.4% in 2020, unchanged from the previous forecast in the 2019 budget. The economy was expected to grow by 2.1% in 2021, 2.0% in 2022 and 2.2% in each of the two following years. Inflation was expected to peak at 3.2% in 2021.

Pensions

 * The pensions Lifetime allowance was scrapped, and the annual allowance increased to £60,000 from £40,000.

Income tax

 * The higher rate income tax threshold was raised to £80,450 from £75,250.
 * The income tax personal allowance was increased by 4.5% to £8,385.

Duties

 * Fuel duty was kept frozen at 57.95p.
 * The stamp duty threshold was raised to £500,000.
 * Alcohol duty was reformed; the number of rates was cut from fifteen to six, with stronger drinks being charged higher rates.

Other taxes
The Chancellor also announced the creation of a scheme called Mortgage Help to Pay, similar to the 1980s MIRAS, which offered homeowners tax relief for interest payments on their mortgage. The initial allowance was set at £70,000.
 * The IR35 tax system was formally abolished.