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 this afternoon, 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, which came into effect in Newport earlier this month, 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 with 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.

Making the announcement Mr Hammond said: "This is our plan to deliver on the pledge we have made to the next generation that the dream of home ownership will become a reality in this country once again."

But Wales’ finance secretary Mark Drakeford said the budget provided “no significant boost for hard-pressed public services”.

He also claimed £650 million of the £1.2 billion figure would have to be repaid to the Treasury.

“While these small increases in the resources available to Wales are to be welcomed as they will help support our priorities, this additional funding will do little to ease the pressures on frontline public services, which have been struggling to cope as a result of the successive cuts to our budget,” he said.

Mr Drakeford also said the budget was “a missed opportunity” to lift the public sector pay cap and criticised the chancellor for not including a commitment to invest in major projects in Wales such as the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.

“Once again the UK Government has failed Wales by failing to invest in key projects,” he said.

The chancellor also confirmed plans to scrap the Severn bridge tolls by the end of next year would go ahead and introduced proposals for growth deals in north and mid Wales similar to the Cardiff and Swansea City Deals.

Meanwhile the National Living Wage is to be increased from £7.50 to £7.83 in April and the amount workers can earn before paying tax will increase to £11,850.

But the chancellor also downgraded economic forecasts, saying the economy was now expected to grow by about 0.5 per cent slower than previously predicted until 2022. He also said national debt is expected to peak this year before beginning to fall.

Conservative Monmouth AM Nick Ramsay, who is also the party's shadow finance secretary, called it "a budget that delivers for Wales".

"We have seen measures to get more people into good quality, well-paid work and to reduce that burden of income tax, leaving more money in the pockets of hardworking families," he said.

"The Welsh NHS will benefit too. Under-funded in recent years by the Labour Party, but additional investment in the English health service means that the Welsh Government has now run out of excuses to withhold the resources that frontline services so desperately need."

But Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds called the budget "a let-down".

"For all those suffering great hardship as a result of the botched Universal Credit rollout, the measures announced by the chancellor are simply not enough," he said.

And Plaid Cymru's treasury spokesman Jonathan Edwards said: “There was nothing in this budget to drive up wages and nothing to push down the cost of living."

“Once again the Westminster Government has delivered a city-centric budget, deliberately overheating the south east of England while Wales is left out in the cold.

"Our roads and railways are neglected whilst Welsh taxpayers’ money is pumped into London."

A Ukip Wales spokesman described the budget as "a bit of a disappointment from a Welsh perspective".

But Welsh secretary Alun Cairns called the budget "a powerful package of measures which will help shape Wales’ economy into one that is fit for the future".

"The Welsh Government regularly calls for a boost to their capital budgets," he said.

"Today the UK Government has again delivered funding that can deliver real change.

"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."

Other measures included £500 million for technological schemes such as faster internet and £400 for electric car charging points.

Duty on tobacco will also continue to increase by two per cent above inflation, with an extra one per cent for rolling tobacco, while tax on 'white cider' - cheap, low quality alcoholic drinks - will rise in 2019.

But tax on all other alcoholic drinks will be frozen, and a planned duty rise for petrol and diesel in April has been scrapped.

The chancellor also announced an extra £2.8 billion for the English NHS, as well as £44 billion to support house building. But this will not apply to Wales as housing is devolved. An extra £40 million to train teachers in computer science and maths will also only apply to England.

Kensington and Chelsea Council will also be given an extra £28 million to deal with the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.