In the Spring Budget 2024, on 6 March 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, made a series of announcements concerning digital planning, housing, planning reforms, transport, green industries and boosting growth and investment across the country. Chrisa Tsompani, Partner at Davitt Jones Bould, and Fiona Sawyer, Professional Support Lawyer, and Charlotte Dyer, Of Counsel with the planning team, at Herbert Smith Freehills, provide commentary.

The announcements by the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, at Spring Budget 2024, impacting the property industry were not particularly ground-breaking, centring around furnished holiday lettings, multiple dwellings relief on stamp duty land tax (SDLT) and a reduction in the higher rate of capital gains tax (CGT) for residential property disposals. Chrisa Tsompani, a partner at Davitt Jones Bould, comments on the measures announced.

In the Spring Budget 2024, on 6 March 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, made several announcements, including, national insurance reductions by two percent for employees and the self-employed from 6 April 2024 and the replacement of tax rules for non-UK domiciled individuals with a residence-based regime from April 2025. However, there were no announcements made relating to immigration. Katie Newbury, partner at Kingsley Napley, comments on the Budget.

In the Spring Statement 2025, on 26 March 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, made several announcements of relevance to TMT practitioners, including allocating £42m for three AI Exemplar projects and implementing new digital technologies such as voice biometrics and AI in customer services as part of the Plan for Change.

In the Spring Statement 2025, delivered on 26 March 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the RT Hon Rachel Reeves MP, announced a variety of measures impacting the Planning and Construction sectors. These include announcements regarding reforms to the planning system, investment in transport infrastructure and construction industry skills and a spending review. Gemma Duncan and James Goldthorpe, Partner and Trainee Solicitor at Sharpe Pritchard, provide comment on the announcements.

In the Spring Statement 2025, on 26 March 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, announced a series of measures aimed at promoting growth and investment in UK businesses, including in relation to the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES), the proposed new type of stock exchange that will allow private companies to have their shares traded intermittently.

In the Spring Statement 2025 on 26 March 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, made several announcements relevant to criminal justice, including plans to increase the number of prosecutions for tax fraud, to launch a scheme to reward informants of tax non-compliance and to tackle tax evasion by ‘phoenixism’. Plans to further tackle fraud and error in the welfare system and to implement measures to assist with the recovery of public funds lost to fraudulent coronavirus (COVID-19) activities were also announced.

In the Spring Statement 2025, presented on 26 March 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, announced a range of economic forecasts and updated taxation and spending measures following last year’s Autumn Budget 2024. For a reminder of the key announcements from the Autumn Budget 2024 impacting energy and environment policy areas, see: LNB News 30/10/2024 68. While there were relatively limited updates bespoke to energy in the Spring Statement 2025, we cover the key announcements impacting the sector below. This includes an increase in the capital spending budget of £8.4bn to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) for 2025-26; updates on planning and infrastructure reform, including the facilitation of large-scale renewable energy infrastructure and net zero projects; and reforms to the Climate Change Levy (CCL), with the government committing to the removal of CCL costs from electricity used in electrolysis for hydrogen production (ie ‘green’ hydrogen). Caroline May, Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, provided expert comments.

In the Spring Statement 2025, presented on 26 March 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, announced reforms to the Climate Change Levy (CCL), planning and infrastructure reform, a funding increase for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), a major investment in the Strategic Road Network and potential changes to environmental regulations to boost economic growth. Caroline May, Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, provided expert comments.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP, has announced in the Spring Statement 2025 that the government is publishing, for technical consultation, a draft statutory instrument providing an exemption from Stamp Duty and Stamp Duty Reserve Tax (SDRT) for Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) share transactions. A power to make the regulations was introduced in the Finance Act 2025. Responses to the technical consultation are sought by 23 April 2025.

In the Spring Statement 2025, on 26 March 2025 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, made several announcements of relevance to local government practitioners including on governance, children’s social care, social care, social housing, education and planning. Alan Murdie, Barrister of Council Tax Legal Services, Gemma Duncan, Partner and James Goldthorpe, Trainee Solicitor of Sharpe Pritchard have commented on the measures announced and the impact on local government practitioners.

In the Spring Statement 2025, on 26 March 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, provided minimal coverage on pensions, contrary to certain expectations from some in the pensions industry. Alongside the Statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has published its ‘Economic and fiscal outlook’, which includes forecasts of minor relevance to pensions practitioners. These forecasts cover the fiscal impacts of increases in the state pension age (SPA) and an estimated rise in pensioner spending. Sonya Fraser, partner at Arc Pensions Law, has commented on the lack of measures announced and their impact on pensions.