AN EXTRA £1.2 billion is to be handed to Wales over the next four years, chancellor Philip Hammond announced in his budget for the coming financial year.

But the budget, which was announced yesterday, was light on other measures for Wales, and more than half of the £1.2 billion will have to be paid back to Westminster, the Welsh Government has claimed.

The chancellor also set aside £3 billion to ensure the government is fully prepared for all possible outcomes of the Brexit negotiations, with the possibility of more in the future.

The budget also included an overhaul of the controversial Universal Credit system, through which the waiting period for the first payment will be cut from six to five weeks and claimants will be offered advances within a week of the initial claim.

The chancellor also announced stamp duty would be scrapped entirely for first-time buyers for homes worth up to £300,000, with the new policy coming into effect immediately.

But this will only apply in Wales for the next five months as stamp duty is one of the taxes which will be devolved in April, when it will be replaced by the new Land Transaction Tax.

Currently the threshold at which home buyers have to start paying stamp duty is £125,000.

The new rates proposed by the Welsh Government would have increased this to £150,000, but the chancellor’s announcement means this will be far lower than in England unless further changes are made before April.

But Wales’ finance secretary Mark Drakeford said the budget provided “no significant boost for hard-pressed public services” and claimed £650 million of the £1.2 billion would have to be repaid to the Treasury.

Vale MP and Welsh secretary Alun Cairns praised the budget, calling it “a powerful package of measures which will help shape Wales’ economy into one that is fit for the future”.

“Today the UK Government has again delivered funding that can deliver real change,” he said.

“They must now get on with the job of using the levers at their disposal to improve the lives of the people of Wales by building the homes our country needs, building the road network Wales deserves and make real progress in improving standards across our public services.”