David Cameron, the Tory leader, said that the public faced a
harsh reality whereby every time they got a new mortgage, filled up their
car or shopped at the supermarket, they had to pay more. "People
watching this Budget will conclude that the Chancellor and the Prime
Minister live in an entirely different world from everyone else," he
said. "The cost of living is going up and Labour is making it worse.
High debt, high interest rates, high taxes and now lower growth. Those are
the facts that this Budget cannot hide."
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, described the Budget as
an act of political ventriloquism."The Chancellor is the Prime
Minister’s creature, struggling to clear up the mess left by his boss under
instructions from Number 10. What we have seen today is an act of political
ventriloquism. I would like to compliment the Prime Minister, I watched him
very closely, his lips barely moved all the while the Chancellor was
speaking."
Scotland's nationalist government dismissed the budget with
Stewart Hosie, an SNP MP, saying: "This is a sub-prime Budget from a
sub-prime Chancellor. This is a Budget with no new ideas, just
disappointment and more dither and delay."
Business groups questioned the Chancellor’s economic forecasts,
claiming they were too optimistic. David Kern, economic adviser to the
British Chambers of Commerce, said: "The Chancellor's Budget economic
forecasts remain unduly optimistic. The growth forecasts of 1.75 per
cent-2.25 per cent for 2008 and 2.25 per cent to 2.75 per cent for 2009
remain somewhat too high, even though the Chancellor was right to reduce the
previous forecast he made in the pre-Budget report."
Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI, said: "The
Chancellor didn't set the Thames alight, but then he didn't have anything to
set it alight with. On the surface there are no nasty surprises, but his
growth assumptions are optimistic and leave him with little room for
manoeuvre should things take a turn for the worse. Borrowing also looks set
to rise by a further £20 billion over the next four years, which is a cause
for concern.” But Mr Lambert welcomed moves to stimulate enterprise. “The
Government has much to do if it is to win back its enterprise credentials,
but the measures announced today are a credible first step on the road,” he
said.
David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce,
said: “This Budget will be seen as one that saw a number of tax increases
which failed to help businesses overcome the difficult conditions they
currently face rather than one that restored the relationship between the
Government and the business community. The pre-Budget Report last October
brought in a series of changes that complicated the tax system, increased
taxes and made the UK a less attractive place to come and do business.
Unfortunately the Chancellor has not repealed the bulk of these measures and
the business community will still feel that the Government has used them as
an easy target for the Treasury.”
Martin Temple, chairman of the EEF manufacturers’ organisation,
said: "The lack of any announcement on the future direction of business
tax strategy failed to impress. The UK’s tax competitiveness is heading in
the wrong direction and this still needs to be addressed if other positive
measures are not to be undermined.”
Hauliers welcomed a delay to the 2p increase in fuel duty but said it
needed to be delayed further. Geoff Dossetter, of the Freight Transport
Association, said: "As the price of oil continues to rise, he must
continue to keep his foot off the fuel duty accelerator – the proposed half
pence per litre above inflation increase from 2010 can be no more than
speculative. FTA will seek a further deferment after 1 October."
Unions signalled more unrest over pay, with increases being capped at 2
per cent in the public sector. Dave Prentis, of Unison, said: "Darling’s
limited room for manoeuvre is clearly hampering progress towards a fairer
Britain. Public Service workers such as nurses, teaching assistants, dinner
ladies, care workers, cleaners and nursery nurses are bearing the brunt of
the squeeze on public services."
Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, backed Alistair Darling’s
claims about the robustness of the economy, but attacked the Chancellor for
failing to crack down on non-doms. “While there was limited scope today for
major changes, the Chancellor should have done more to tackle child poverty.
While there are welcome measures today, the Chancellor has not done enough
to meet the target of halving child poverty by 2010, but neither has he made
it impossible. But to do so will require much more bravery in making the
super-rich pay their fair share of tax. While the Chancellor has stuck to
his non-dom guns, he was wrong to rule out further changes when the
threatened talent exodus fails to materialise. The richest non-doms will
hardly be troubled by this £30,000 poll tax,” he said.
Small businesses gave a cautious welcome to the speech. John Wright,
chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Finally it seems
we may have an announcement from the Chancellor that doesn’t spring any
nasty surprises on small businesses. The deferral of plans to change income
shifting rules, which would have forced tens of thousands of family
businesses to create and maintain a massive amount of extra paperwork on
individuals’ contributions to their business, is welcome news. The plans
should now be abandoned permanently."
Alcohol awareness charities welcomed the rise in alcohol prices. Don
Shenker, acting chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: "The
Government’s tax plan to finally address the issue of alcohol becoming more
affordable with every passing year is welcome, and overdue. There is broad
international agreement that price has a crucial part to play in
substantially reduce harmful drinking. However, for moderate tax hikes to
work, Government must also force the big retailers to stop discounting
drinks so deeply so that any rate increases can actually be passed on to
consumers. We call on ministers to use their considerable powers to achieve
this."
The smoking lobby criticised his decision to increase tobacco taxes.
Christopher Ogden, Chief Executive of the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association
(TMA), said: "The increase in tobacco tax announced today will do
little to reduce the level of tobacco smuggling and cross border shopping
which lost the Treasury £4.5 billion in revenue last year. The decision
helps to maintain the UK’s position as one of the world’s most profitable
destinations for tobacco smugglers and this is of great concern to the TMA
and its member companies."
Retail chiefs attacked the Government’s decision to press on with plans
for a plastic bag levy. Stephen Robertson, director general of the British
Retail Consortium, said: “It’s outrageous to suggest carrier bags are a
major cause of climate change. There are many more significant contributors.
Customers took a billion fewer bags in the last 12 months and retailers are
over half way to achieving the target on cutting the use of new plastic.
This shows bans or taxes are not the only way.”
Airlines greeted with dismay plans by the Chancellor to make aviation
pay more to meet environmental costs. Paul Charles, communications director
at Virgin Atlantic, said: "Air Passenger Duty will already raise around
£3 billion for the Treasury this year, more than enough to cover the cost of
emissions of the UK aviation industry. Further increases look as though they
are merely propping up the Government’s finances. The whole of Britain wants
to know from the Chancellor which environmental projects are actually
benefiting from these tax increases, as so far he has been noticeably quiet
on the issue."
Environmental campaigners, however, were not pleased with the moves,
claiming that the Government's airport expansion plans rendered them
meaningless. Anita Goldsmith, transport campaigner for Greenpeace, said: "Increasing
the revenue from flight taxes is hypocritical posturing from a Chancellor
who wants to see Heathrow and Stansted almost double in size. The modest
carbon savings that might be achieved by bumping up fares by a few pounds
will be wiped out in no time by a third runway at Heathrow. A truly green
Chancellor would have told the aviation industry their tax subsidies worth
billions are being cancelled and the money is being channelled into the
railways."
Duncan Sedgwick, chief executive of the Energy Retail Association, said
the Budget did not present an adequate strategy for tackling fuel poverty. "We
need to be clear how the Government plans to work with energy companies to
target low income families. It needs to get better at sharing the
information it has in order to target those most in need. Energy companies
are willing to support the Government, but we need a complete re-think on
how to tackle fuel poverty. That doesn't mean tinkering around the edges.
There is a danger that despite the Chancellor's warm words and continued
actions from the industry many families will remain in poverty. The industry
is keen to work with government to tackle fuel poverty, but in order to do
this a long term, coherent strategy is urgently needed. Millions of fuel
poor customers are still not claiming their full benefit entitlement and are
living in poorly insulated homes. Government must work together with
industry to identify those at risk and help them out of fuel poverty,"
he said.
Is Gordon Brown self employed if not does the country employ him? If we have been employing him we should be able to reap the benefit of his 10 booming years, but we can't because we are now informed that we have very large debts, something is wrong here. What were the terms of his employment?
christine marshall, cambridge, England
Aboslutely anyone can spend money - that takes no skill at all, especially other people's money. What does take more skill is choosing where not to spend money - that is something this government has never got to grips with.
We are ruled by BIG GOVERNMENT - sticking their noses into the working man's everyday life. They should stick to raising enough money to fund the police, health service and stop meddling. Cut out the projects, experiments and grandiose schemes. And PLEASE stop telling us how to live our lives.
Patrick, Blackpool, Lancashire
People who earn between 36,000 and 40,000 pay 51% marginal tax!
How can keeping only 49p in the pound motivate anyone to work?
The choice is emmigrate or go on benefits. When these choices become the decisions facing us, you can only conclude that the UK is structurally destined to become a failed economy.
(That is 40% tax plus 11% national insurance - a tax by any other name)
Alex, London, UK
The amount of money being taken from us is getting beyond the bounds of reasonable taxation and into the realms of legalised theft. There are numerous areas where taxes could be cut, they could start with all the ghastly government adverts we are bombarded with during every waking hour, then sack about 20% of all the people holding non jobs like those Highways Agency bufoons who keep closing the motorways, get rid of half the quangoes, consultants and other parasites, the list is endless. I read somewhere that they could abolish income tax altogether if they just returned spending to 2002 levels yet all we get are demands for ever more taxes for them to squander. The government is now spending money faster than the private sector can produce it so they play the green card to fleece us even more. The Conservatives say that they will maintain this drunken sailor spending. It's about time someone took a bit of a harder look at all this and cut their cloth accordingly.
Simon, Chatham , Kent
the government - national and local do nothing but WASTE OUR MONEY!! It's time to call a stop to it! Stupid, grandiose schemes like ID cards (15 billion pounds for god's sake!!) Plus other stupid waste, waste waste...why can't they Cut Back the Spending like we have to, then they won't need so much!
And STOP COUNCIL TAX NOW!! It's unfair, too easy to keep on raising it and could be done much more simply by adding a bit on income tax so we wouldn't notice it!
Jack James, Dawley, Shropshire
Maybe the world should help UK in defeating poverty.
London should organize a concert — UK Aid — and poverty will be defeated. Japanese media reported the dramatic poverty in the UK,
and maybe they will help too.
M2, London, UK
I wonder just how many will now turn on Gordon (Messed it up) Brown who only a year ago were praising him for being at the helm of a tight and macro economic sound footing. Borrowing to fund growth is but part of the whole equation. Those experts who get paid for trumpeting such as disaster should now decide for themselves it is time to opt for another career.
The last decade has been an opportunity waisted on trying to create legacies instead of a country fit to fend for itself in an ever more competitive filed.
Instead of a country of shop keepers - the UK is now a country driven by shoppers.
Just watch the GDP drop like a stone. Unless the UK returns to yet more of the 125% mortgages that never existed in the first place!
I did not mention Darling - what is the point. He is just the delivery boy.
Paul, London, Canada
If UK growth is forecast at 1.75% and RPI inflation is currently 4.3%, this means we are every year getting poorer as a nation.
£43 billion per year government borrowing means he is adding this amount to the national debt that Labour has already grown from £306 billion in 2001 to £600 billion currently. Reducing this 2.9% amount of national income to 2.5% means he is still borrowing the same amount with no plans to repay back due to his forecast for some GDP growth.
Tax (duty) on petrol and energy is already more than half the price of petrol, hence Labour are creating the inflation that prevents interest rates from falling and will cause the coming recession. This coupled with the fact that 17.5% the price of all non-food items in the shops is VAT tax.
At what point does wasteful public spending become investment ? Labour need to cut back on public spending to run a balanced budget, not one that borrows £43 billion per year on top of the already high taxation.
George, London,
We can all rest easy in our beds tonight the TUC agrees with the chancellor the only problem this budget is a load of tosh here we go again more borrowing its labour doing what it does best Tax and Spend.and Tax and Spend. while this country goes to the dogs.
JJ, Southgate, London
What are these misfits in government squandering all our money on? I want to see the accounts NOW.
Cromwell, Leeds, England
its not the fact that this is a budget by brown that irks, its not the contents of the budget that irks, its the fact the regardless of the tax raised be it 50p or 500billion, this Govt is inept in the basic requirement of administering the money - they feel that they have discharged their responsibilties completely by simply throwing money at problems. the nhs and education are two wonderfull examples. Even if the average uk citizen were working for the Govt for 9 mos instead of the more likley 4 or 5 mos beofre seeing a penny of their own earning, the govt will contrive to piss it up the wall and acheive nothing "in real terms"..
zugerman, zurich, Switzerland
For the second year running Car Road Tax is raised including small cars without a mention in the budget. 07 £100 increased to £115 now 08 increased to £120 Stealth, Stealth is all these imposters know.
Michael, Sheffield,
So now that the cost of a drink is ten pence more, young people will not get blind drunk in the cities every weekend and alcoholics will be saved?!! And of course the added 11p on a packet of cigarettes will help people to give up smoking?! Why cant the government get real and look to the root of the problems that lead to this behaviour. Look at other european countries such as Italy, France and Spain; where a good bottle of wine costs four euro and wake up! The drinking problems in the UK are cultural; it is not because pre-budget, Tesco could sell you a can of crappy beer for 24p!!!
Nikki Ciocca, Limassol, Cyprus
"If it ain't broke don't fix it."...but it is broke (£2Trillion) and he hasn't fixed it.
Brian Gilbert, Hampton, Middx
Just one of my thoughts on the budget from my new website, www.thelabourparty.org:
Plastic bags? What about the far more important environmental disasters in their early stages, like the chemicals that some people flush down the toilet that end up in the rivers and seas that are having 'gender-bending' effects on marine life?
These chemical are now in other food chains. A study has shown that male starlings have become more effeminate due to ingesting female hormones from the contraceptive pill and hormone replacement therapy.
Oestrogen in sewage outlets is changing the sex of fish and causing males to produce eggs.
I think it is probably obvious that certain chemicals are also in the human food chain and are to blame for boys becoming more effeminate and girls entering puberty ever-younger.
Stewart Cowan, Stranraer, Scotland, U.K.
Sorry Lee Baines I think we all know we pay more than enough taxes already. It is not the amount of tax raised that is the problem, it is the sheer incompetence of those spending it! All those extra billions have not delivered a shred of extra productivity. What about those wealthy GPs and consultants working shorter hours, your NHS dentist, educational standards, your train services, council services, great pensions for public sector workers but bobbins for those in the private sector. Its not about increased taxes but productive use of existing resources - would you run your household budget like this Government uses your money?
John, Manchester,
Poor chap. He does look like Mr Bean.
Jim, Bristol,
This Budget has Brown's fingerprints all over it. Brown has form on this for 10 years. How many times have we heard Brown say there will be a clamp down on benefit cheats --it never happened.How many times has Brown said he wants disabled claimers back to work . It never happened. Now Darling says the disabled claimers will be assessed in 2010. You can easily detect why. He can't risk losing Labour voters. He has form on this. For 10 years he spoke about reviewing non doms. Nothing happened becaused they were the main funders of Labour. Now the rich non doms have closed their pockets to him & a future Conservative tax suggestion makes him spring into action. Well, not quite a bit of dithering & changing before it happens. Every Brown Budget addresses voters first, country second, although in the case of England a poor fourth, after Scotland & Wales.
Clive Kitchener, Pulborough, UK
This country is coming to shambles. Its in debt! The inland revenue is a complete mess overpaying people claiming that they are entitled to it and then blaming them for overpayment demanding a lump sum! Systems are losing discs with personal information on it! Taxes are rising taking away hard earned money! If money is taken from taxes and from loans, where is it all going? The pensions are low and so are the benefits! You pay loads in taxes and get not a lot back!
Labour goes too liberal and conservatives are a bit too right-wing! Even distinguishing between them is a blur!
J, leic, U.K.
antpilk please tell me its not labour!! haven't they messed up enough? where have our pensions gone? oh thats right labour has spent them, while the conservatives may not be the best choice they are the only other choice, lets give someone else a chance otherwise this government will carry on doing whatever they want
Tim, london, england
Lots of Tory voters moaning in this forum; it's not ideal the state the country is in but god help us if the Thatcher mob ever got into power again. I don't know what is the best solution, but for goodness sake, it's certainly not Conservative!
antpilk, Lancashire, UK
You people make me laugh; we all in our heart of hearts know that we do not pay enough tax to keep the system running the way it should. However, the mere whiff of a tax rise, and there is a clamour for Darling's head and the end to Labour's stranglehold on number 10. Did the Tories never raise taxes? Would they have been superior in predicting market downturns? I don't think so. Cameron's remark smacks of irony, too; can you imagine the uproar if Labour had held back spending on health and education in our prosperous years "for a rainy day"? There would've been uproar (the British public have no concept of the term frugal) and they'd never have been voted back into Government.
The problem is not with the parties, but with the idiotic voters who can't see past their noses. We are the Frankenstein - MPs are our monster.
I do concede the idea of raising revenue through taxes on beer and fuel is quite laughable - the sooner our taxes are based purely on income, the better.
Lee Baines, Skelmerdale, Lancashire
What is it with this country poor fiscal management,lax immigration control ,spiralling crime,6+ million on some sort of benefit and a nice little tax credit to support poor paying companies-where is the opposition? Oh and the '08 council tax bill has just arrived on my doorstop....great.
Sven, Greenhithe, UK
There is NO child poverty. Please stop using this socialist phraseology of moral blackmail.
John Tomlinson, Brentwood, uk
It is the very right time for Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland to become Independant countires than be speechless deaf in UK union. So, that English can't complain of giving more and more. The truth will be out in the air then!!!
Uma Shankar, UK,
MP's will be unaffected by the rise in alchol duty when they buy from the House of Commons. Road pricing will not affect MP's who use ministerial cars but affect everyone else going about their day to day work. Where are all these kids coming from who are in proverty, 10 years and the problem appears to be growing? Public spending to increase which will equate to more waste, 10 years of investment and the services have not improved in line with the investment. Darling forgot to mention the increase in local tax (council tax) where does he take this figure into his account? Why are we increasing borrowing reduce foreign aid which is forcast to cost the UK taxpayer £9 billion. No tax reductions from a greedy, envious Labour party who will not promote an enviroment for those who do not want to beholden to the social justice mess created by this party.
steve tea, manchester, cheshire
He's increased taxes again. We have tried that policy and it has failed. We need to try a new policy.
Frank Upton, Solihull,
Wow what a flop no mention of the low paid or 60 + women on small incomes or pensions who are due to be rob by GBs changes to taxation. My wife ,daughter and youngest son will be paying more tax in the next financial year, whilst the rich get richer by paying less. But not worry say's GB you can always fill in a 35 page document and try to claim one of his wonderful tax credit benefits which we all know cost the taxpayer twice as much to run than they actually distribute if your lucky enough to get through the paper minefield.
The sooner we can kick this lot out to grass for another 18 years the better.
Dave, Mold, Flintshire
To be honest no one expected much of a budget so no one should be disappointed. This government, whilst under the banner of ‘new labour’, looked very much like old labour. No cut back on spending, but lots more borrowing which is described as ‘investment’.
As David Cameron said, the government didn’t put away money in the prosperous periods and now the downturn is upon us, the bank is empty (in more ways than one). Borrowing has been, and will continue to be, the only way this government can meet all of its commitments leaving us with more long term debt to pay at some point in the future.
Grahame Goodyer, New Milton, UK
Wine, beer, ciggy's and the cost of motoring up. That should make everything better then.
Andy, France,
Increased tax on alcohol will never stop a dedicated binger. Unfortunately it will deter some from a modest enjoyment of health-giving red wine, and pensioners may not take a nightly dram to widen their constricted arteries, and die prematurely. Yes, these are well-attested medical advice. Please do not mention child poverty again. There is no such a person, when you see even girls drinking themselves into the gutter, and many a shop's greatest profit is from mobile phones for kids and the latest electronic toys for all young persons.
The present tax on petrol/diesel is far in excess of any other European country, and we do not have the rail or road services that others offer so cheaply. Just go to France and Germany and Belgium, and see how cheaply you travel by train and bus.
We could mention the NHS in its chaos, but shall not.
john , NORWICH, UK
How does Darling spout that twaddle with a straight face.
Er.... he's had lots of practice and coaching from ....guess who.
Victor D., Chelmsford, Essex.,