UK Budget 2017: Why young people should watch Chancellor Phillip Hammond's speech

Budget 2017: Why should young people tune in to Phillip Hammond's speech?
EPA
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Philip Hammond’s Budget speech has been considered a chance for the Conservative Party to win back the support of millennials.

Ahead of today’s announcement, Mr Hammond told his Tory peers there was a need to address the financial situation of the younger generation.

The Chancellor drew attention to the difference between older people, who are in secure financial positions, and younger people saddled with huge debts because of student loans and struggling to buy a house.

June's General Election saw Labour receive far more of the 18 to 29-year-old vote than the Conservative party.

Labour took a share of 64 per cent compared to the Tories' 21 per cent - drastically different than just two years ago, after a respective 36 per cent to 32 per cent.

Phillip Hammond will deliver the budget speech on Wednesday
Carl Court/Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn won a huge amount of support from the younger demographic in June for his policies on affordable housing, scrapping student fees and a softer Brexit.

Mr Hammond has already spoken about the need to address the intergenerational gap and Wednesday's budget speech could be an attempt to bridge the gap to the young with similar policies.

Here are some of the expected announcements aimed at millennials:

Train fares

We know already that the chancellor will offer young people cut-price train fares with a discounted rail card for 26 to 30 year olds.

The so-called 'millennials card' is expected to operate on a similar basis to the current 16 to 25 railcard, which has been available in one form or another since 1974.

Housing

A big cut to stamp duty for first-time buyers is also being considered for the Budget, which ministers hope will aim to help people in their twenties and thirties - and restore “intergenerational fairness” to the system.

Stamp duty is a massive extra cost for people trying to buy their first home, especially in London.

It means a tax bill of £11,427 for the average first-time buyer in the capital, according to the Land Registry, which recorded the average price paid by new entrants to the London property market as £428,546.

Even a starter flat costing £250,000 attracts a stamp duty bill of £2,500.

Mr Hammond is looking for ways to restore young people’s faith in the system at a time when senior ministers fear the link between working hard and getting on has been badly weakened.

Ministers say even young professionals on good money in the capital feel they are missing out on things their parents took for granted, including buying a home.

The number of young people still living with their parents has been rising. According to the Office for National Statistics, around 2.7 million, - 21 per cent - of those aged between 20 and 34 were living at home in 1996. That figure has risen to 3.4 million - 26 per cent - in 2017.

Education

The UK has seen a drastic rise in the number of people entering higher education over recent decades.

But with this rise has come increasing numbers saddled with student debt.

According to reports, a new data-sharing system will be set up by April 2019 to stop graduates overpaying their loans.

Around 86,000 graduates overpaid on their loans in the year 2015-16 and debt repayments were still being taken even after the full loan had been paid off.

The chancellor’s Budget speech is expected to get underway at 12.30pm following Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons at midday.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in