10 things we learned in the Budget
Here are 10 things we learned in the Budget:
1. More jobs were created in Yorkshire than the whole of France in the last year. Sorry, monsieur.
2. The transition of driverless cars from sci-fi movies to real life could be eased with a £100 million funding boost to develop the technology.
3. There was no time for George Osborne to squeeze in a mention of the NHS despite it being the longest Budget speech of his career at 59 minutes.
4. George likes the gag about Ed Miliband having two kitchens. Despite the PM making several references to this important discovery during Prime Minister's Questions, the Chancellor managed to bring it up again when mentioning Britain's technology industry. He got the biggest laugh of his speech when he joked about someone with two fridges being able to control them both from the same mobile phone.
5. The gas and oil companies are in the Chancellor's good books. A cut in the supplementary charge on oil industry profits from 30% to 20% was announced, effectively reversing the hike in the 2011 Budget when oil prices were much higher.
6. The UK is a step closer to building the world's first tidal lagoon power plant. The government is backing plans for a £1 billion scheme in Swansea Bay, South Wales, to provide green energy from the tides of the Severn Estuary.
7. Drivers are enjoying the longest freeze in fuel duty for more than 20 years.
8. After last year's so-called pensions revolution, this time savers are rejoicing. The Chancellor said that a new personal savings allowance will take 95% of taxpayers out of savings tax altogether, benefiting around 17 million people.
9. The Budget was celebrated by business leaders, but the Chancellor was accused of offering "short-term bribes" by critics.
10. Those nuisance calls that always seem to come after we rush to answer the phone are under threat from a £3.5 million package which includes the development of blocking technology and a campaign to raise awareness of the problem.
The Budget on AOL Money
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