Queen’s Speech | 19.12.19 | any news for salon and barbershop owners?
The Queen’s Speech sets out the government’s agenda at the usual State Opening of Parliament following an election. The second Queen’s speech in the space of nine weeks produced few surprises relating to tax issues were short on detail.
The key points included:
- An increase in the national insurance threshold,
- An increase to the national living wage,
- Changes to business rates
- Measures to encourage flexible working
Several policy areas only received passing comment, such as climate change policy and it also promised cross-party consensus on the future of social care in the UK.
Salonfrog Comment
Announcements on key tax changes are normally reserved for the chancellor to make during the budget but the next one is not expected until February, so it was left to the Queen this time.
The Prime Minister had said, during the run up to the general election, that the cut in corporation tax to 17% from April 2020 would be shelved but this was not mentioned in the speech. So we wait and see.
Full transcript here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/queens-speech-december-2019