The Chancellor’s announcement of £2.3bn extra for research and development is a con.

Philip Hammond has announced just £1.6bn of NHS funding for 2018-19, less than half the £4bn that NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens and leading think tanks have said is needed.

Far from the £15 billion promised by the Chancellor, the real figure for housing is closer to a much reduced £6 billion over the next 5 years.

Liberal Democrat research based on OBR figures shows that:

In today’s budget, Philip Hammond announced that he would consider charges on single-use plastic items to reduce waste.

It comes following a Liberal Democrat campaign to introduce a charge on disposable coffee cups, to reduce the billions of cups thrown away in the UK each year.