CENTRAL Devon’s MP Mel Stride has called the chancellor’s Budget ‘good news for Devon’.

The Budget on March 16 was dominated by the news that the UK economy is likely to grow more slowly in the next five years than had been expected last November. Under the Office for Budget Responsibility’s new forecast, the estimate for economic growth in 2017 has been cut from 2.5% to 2.2% and to 2.1% from 2.4% in 2017. Growth in both 2019 and 2020 is now estimated at 2.1% rather than the previous forecast of 2.3%.

Chancellor George Osborne used the Budget to unveil a tax on sugary drinks and make other key announcements, including a 2% increase in tax on cigarettes and 3% on rolling tobacco, a freeze in beer and cider duty and the levy on whisky and other spirits, raising the tax-free personal allowance to £11,500, and the ISA limit being raised to £20,000 a year. The Government is also introducting of the Lifetime ISA, which will give savers under 40 a 25% bonus capped at up to £4,000 each year.

Mr Osborne also used his Budget speech to say all schools in England will become academies; all schools must become academies by 2020 or have official plans to do so by 2022.

Mr Stride said a number of measures would be ‘especially good news’ for residents and businesses in Devon. In particular Mr Stride welcomed the reforms to business rates that mean 600,000 small businesses will pay no rates after the tax relief threshold was raised to £15,000. A further 250,000 businesses will also see their rates cut.

Mr Stride said: ‘Rural counties are hit hardest when petrol duty rises and I’m delighted the Chancellor has frozen fuel duty for the sixth year in a row, saving the average driver £75 a year and a small business with a van £270.

‘The tax cuts for small businesses are also significant - 600,000 small businesses in the UK will now pay no business rates at all, an annual saving of up to almost £6,000, and a further 250,000 will get a tax cut on their business rates bill. With a high proportion of small businesses this is a huge boost for Devon.’

Mr Osborne told the Commons: ‘This is a budget which gets rid of loopholes for multinationals and gets rid of tax for small businesses. A £7-billion tax cut, for our nation of shopkeepers. A tax system that says to the world: we’re open for business.’

The Central Devon MP also supported the chancellor’s decision to freeze beer and cider duty and backed the introduction of a tax on surgery drinks.

There will be two bands of taxation on sugary drinks — one for total sugar content above five grams per 100 millilitres; and a second higher band for the most sugary drinks, with more than eight grams per 100 millilitres. Mr Osborne expects the tax to raise £520-million.

Mr Stride said: ‘Landlords across my constituency need a break and they will be delighted with another freeze in beer and cider duty. A tax on surgery drinks was a welcome surprise – I continue to be staggered by the fact a can of coke can have up to 10 teaspoons of sugar in it and levying a tax on the industry to double sports funding in primary schools is a very good move.’