Budget 2018 - LIVE: Hammond announces end to PFI and ploughs extra £1bn into troubled universal credit
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Your support makes all the difference.Philip Hammond has reiterated Theresa May's claim that the era of austerity is "finally coming to an end" in his last pre-Brexit Budget.
The chancellor unveiled a new "UK digital services tax" aimed at tech giants, which are profitable and generate at least £500m a year in global revenues.
Promising a Budget for "Britain's future", Mr Hammond also earmarked an extra £1bn for the Ministry of Defence and set out the government's plan for the NHS, including £2bn per year for mental health services.
In addition, he said the government would never sign another private finance initiative (PFI) deal, long criticised for locking the taxpayer into hugely expensive infrastructure contracts that enrich private firms.
He also promised an additional £1bn for the implementation of universal credit, which also faces widespread criticism for pushing vulnerable people into homelessness and food bank dependency.
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Hammond now talking about the Spending Review, where the government is going to look at public spending.
He says the Brexit 'deal dividend' will help to pay for spending review.
He jokes that some of the 'rabbits up his sleeves' have been nicked. The biggest of these is the promise to give £20bn to the NHS - which the PM announced in the summer.
Hammond says this is the single biggest investment by a peacetime government.
His first proper announcement - new mental health crisis teams in hospitals, as part of efforts to give parity between mental and physical illness. This was briefed out overnight.
Hammond now moves to social care and promises again that there will be a social green paper.
But he says he will act now to give *new money* - £650m of grant funding for English authorities in 2019-20 and £84m over the next 5 years to expand children's social care programmes.
On security, Hammond gives £1bn to the Ministry of Defence to cover this year and next. That's a decent win for Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary.
He also promises £160m to counter-terror policing. He says he recognises that policing is 'under pressure' and promises that Sajid Javid, the home secretary, will review it in December.
Onto schools now, Hammond says 86% are rated good or outstanding compared to 68% in 2010.
He says he recognises that 'school budgets do not extend to those little extras' that schools need and announces £400m to help schools out. His comments are likely to anger some teachers, as many argue that they are really stretched.
His comments are already being disputed by the head of the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Hammond is now attacking PFI deals, 90% of which were secured by the last Labour government, he said.
He says the 'days of the public sector being a pushover' have ended. News alert - he says the government will abolish future PFI deals. He says they are a toxic legacy of the last Labour government and he has never signed one - and never will.
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