4.30pm update

Brown's pre-budget statement: the main points

Special report: Budget 2000

Jon Dennis
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday November 8 2000 17.31 GMT

Here are the main points of the pre-budget report from the chancellor, Gordon Brown:

Pensions
• State pensions to rise above inflation
• £5 for single pensioners and £8 for married couples this year
• Extra £3 for single pensioners and £4.80 for couples next year
• Poorest pensioners to get extra £700 per year from March 2001
• New credit to be linked to earnings
• Tax-free winter allowance of £200 sent out this week to every pensioner

Fuel and transport
• Fuel duty frozen until April 2002
• Fuel duty on ultra-low sulphur diesel down by 3p in Budget 2001
• Road tax scrapped for tractors
• Cheaper driving licences for 5m motorists, those with 1500cc vehicles, from March 2001
• No windfall tax on oil companies' profits

Haulage industry
• £100m for scrapping older lorries
• Foreign lorries to pay for "Brit disc" to drive on UK roads

Education
• New money for repairs and improvements to every school in the country
• A typical English secondary school will get £36,000 for repairs this year, up from £19,000
• The average primary school will get £12,000, up from £6,500

Welfare
New deal for 150,000 more single parents

Investment in industry
New research and development credits for businesses

E-commerce
Extra tax relief on share options for e-commerce companies

North-south divide
Regional development agencies to get greater flexibility to allow them to decide how central government funding is spent

Environment
Accelerated tax relief for companies cleaning up contaminated land

Poverty
Stamp duty exempt in poor areas

Saving
Isa limit £7,000 for next five years

The speech in full
Part 1: the economy
Part 2: the fiscal stance
Part 3: families and pensioners

Useful links
Key player: pre-budget report - HM Treasury
Campaign - People's Fuel Lobby
Key player - the Road Haulage Association
Key player - Freight Taxes.com
Key player - National pensioners convention
Budgets and pre-budgets since 1994 - HM Treasury