Budget 2012

Should it be #grandpatax instead of #grannytax?

2012-03-21T13:37:26-04:00

@ guywalters : It's a #grandpatax as well you know

5m set to lose out over #grannytax

2012-03-21T13:31:52-04:00

@ joyless60 : #grannytax Dot Gibson gen sec of Nat pensioners convention 5m will be worse off. #bbcnewschannel Passionate advocate for pensioners

Were @BBCNormanS's comments on the #grannytax a sign of BBC impartiality?

2012-03-21T13:27:54-04:00

@ eljmayes : The BBC's Norman Smith has just stated that his mum wouldn't be impressed by the supposed #GrannyTax- bias towards Labour?

@BBCNormanS gets personal on the #grannytax

2012-03-21T13:24:21-04:00

@ CallumJonesBlog : @BBCNormanS on Treasury's follow up to #grannytax: "my mum won't be happy with that argument"

If Osborne hadn't leaked - would #grannytax be so talked about?

2012-03-21T13:22:49-04:00

@ anthonypainter : The irony is that by leaking everything else, the Coalition has focused attention on the #grannytax ! Genius. #budget2012

CCHQ bring in help for defence over #grannytax

2012-03-21T13:19:09-04:00

@ RicHolden : IoD: ‘This budget brings three items of good news for pensions’ http://t.co/gbouGq5y #Budget2012

Should the LibDems put "yellow water" between themselves and the Tories on #grannytax?

2012-03-21T13:09:40-04:00

@ MirrorJames : Top Lib Dems distancing themselves from 50p - should try putting some yellow water between themselves and the #grannytax #Budget2012

Is Danny Alexander ashamed of the #grannytax?

2012-03-21T13:03:58-04:00

@ 1957AJB : Danny Alexander ashamed of #grannytax http://t.co/gjwtNPEQ And so he should be

Is the #grannytax fuss overblown?

2012-03-21T13:02:20-04:00

@ gordoh : Personal view: #grannytax fuss is overblown. Hits some but impact modest. Too many reactions verging on hyperbole. #budget2012

Is the #grannytax actually what it says?

2012-03-21T12:59:20-04:00

@ faisalislam : Its not really a #grannytax though is it? The HMRC costing says 58% paid by male over-65s.

GQ has collected the best #Budget2012 jokes, #grannytax not included.

2012-03-21T12:57:40-04:00

@ AndrewPageCFP : RT @janemerrick23: Key about #grannytax Osborne has spectacularly failed Daily Mail Test by punishing readership: middle class pensioners

Has Osborne angered the Daily Mail over the #grannytax?

2012-03-21T12:55:49-04:00

@ AndrewPageCFP : RT @janemerrick23: Key about #grannytax Osborne has spectacularly failed Daily Mail Test by punishing readership: middle class pensioners

Has George Osborne hid a second #grannytax in his Budget?

2012-03-21T12:54:05-04:00

@ Simon_Nixon : Stamp duty hike is in fact another disguised #grannytax since it will be ultimately be paid by home sellers in form of lower house prices.

What would the Queen have thought about the #grannytax?

2012-03-21T12:52:37-04:00

@ jamiesont : Osborne lucky the #grannytax didn't leak yesterday or The Queen would have shoved his smug face through that stained glass window.

Age UK have attacked the #grannytax

2012-03-21T12:51:03-04:00

@ BBCNormanS : Age UK say pensioner with an income of 10500 pounds a year cd be 259 pounds a year worse off cos of #grannytax

@TomWatsonMP isn't thinking of #grannytax, but the latest in #hacking and Rebekah Brooks

2012-03-21T12:50:06-04:00

@ tom_watson : I'm distracted from #Budget2012 and #grannytax by news from a police station in Milton Keynes: http://t.co/P4uVL6x6

#grannytax was one of the few things not to be leaked in the #budget2012

2012-03-21T12:47:26-04:00

@ SimonBatchelor1 : Anybody surprised the only bit of the #budget2012 not to leak was the #grannytax No thought not #bbcbudget

Why did Osborne do the #grannytax in his #Budget?

2012-03-21T12:45:40-04:00

@ martinnicholls : Osborne's #grannytax own-goal is surprising given the number of Tory voters it'll piss off. Unusually clumsy bit of politics #budget

@Johnprescott has made a #grannytax poster

2012-03-21T12:43:37-04:00

@ johnprescott : My latest #giveitbackdave #grannytax poster - made here http://t.co/xHDefEFw http://t.co/uSWBa9ux

The argument for the #grannytax?

2012-03-21T12:42:08-04:00

@ jamesrbuk : Am thinking @helenlewis is right. Someone should write a defence of the #grannytax in relation to intergenerational justice etc.

As #grannytax rivals Justin Bieber on Twitter, what will George Osborne do?

2012-03-21T12:41:12-04:00

@ RichardJMurphy : Gordon Brown had his 10p tax fiasco and his 75p pension rise. Osborn tries to do both with his #grannytax charge on all new pensioners

Will Osborne's team tackle the #grannytax furore?

2012-03-21T12:39:07-04:00

@ martinnicholls : RT @edstaite: #grannytax is trending and not just with Lobby hacks. Osborne team need to hit back quick & hard #speedkills

Will the LibDems do anything about the #grannytax?

2012-03-21T12:37:09-04:00

@ PatJHennessy : Why didn't the LibDems raise a fuss about the #grannytax ?

Isn't this why the #grannytax is controversial?

2012-03-21T12:36:19-04:00

@ chrisshipitv : 230,000 pensioners will be brought INTO paying income tax. 360,000 OAPs lose £285/year. Did Treasury not think controversial? #grannytax

Treasury source tells HuffPost on #grannytax...

2012-03-21T12:26:05-04:00

"It's about simplification, it was never going to be an easy decision but it had to be done at some point." The source says the furore was expected and planned for, but they insist that simplifying the personal allowance is in the public interest. But expected or not, 4.5 million pensioners are going to be affected and it's rapidly becoming the story of the day.

Westminster is abuzz with the news that the price of fags is set to go up.

2012-03-21T12:16:12-04:00

@ FelicityParkes : I've just queued up with half a dozen people, all buying cigs like it was going out of fashion. Eat my smoke, Chancellor! #budget2012

Labour's one-page Budget response

2012-03-21T12:08:43-04:00

...is here on Twitpic (posted by Tim Montgomerie of ConHome)

Gavin Shuker MP trials a potential attack line

2012-03-21T11:58:57-04:00

@ gavinshuker : George Osborne's #grannytax means 4.5m pensioners will lose out. £3bn squeezed from over 65s over the next four years.

Is this Osborne's big mistake?

2012-03-21T11:56:17-04:00

@ ShippersUnbound : Could the #grannytax be Osborne's 10p fiasco? Discuss...

Ros Altmann, Chief Exec of SAGA, blasts pension changes

2012-03-21T11:39:32-04:00

She tells HuffPost:

“This is an outrageous assault on decent middle-class pensioners. “This Budget contains an enormous stealth tax for older people. Over the next five years, pensioners with an income of between £10,000 and £24,000 will be paying an extra £3 billion in tax while richer pensioners are left unaffected. “There is nothing in this Budget for savers, there is nothing to improve the annuity market, nothing to appease the damage of quantitative easing and nothing to support ISA changes and shelter older people’s money in cash. This Budget is terrible news for pensioners.” “It is good to hear that we will be able to harness the power of pension funds to improve UK Infrastructure but in short, this Budget is another shocking example of the Government’s attack on poorer and older people. It is dramatically unfair.”

People have been checking out the Budget small-print...

2012-03-21T11:37:26-04:00

@ c_quigley : Good work, as always, from @psbook on identifying #budget nasties: http://t.co/MIHtqIcx

Mumsnet CEO Justine Roberts writes for Huffpost...

2012-03-21T11:36:53-04:00

Justine Roberts, Founder and CEO, Mumsnet.com tells Huffpost:

Of all the budget preamble, not surprisingly perhaps, what was to become of child benefit was most discussed on the Mumsnet forums. The Chancellor’s 2010 announcement to remove it from households where a single earner paid higher rate tax had been strongly criticised on two counts: First, the cliff edge effect – the loss of child benefit for higher rate tax payers that meant for some people there was a disincentive to take a promotion and a pay rise because the loss in child benefit was considerably more than the gain in salary. The Chancellor responded to that criticism and today announced that he would introducing a taper so there is an incremental loss as earnings rise from £50k to £60k as opposed to a one off forfeit. And although some may suspect that this taper will be complicated and expensive to administer, broadly it will be welcomed. The bigger issue for Mumsnet users, though, was fairness and specifically that a single income household earning higher rate tax (£42,750) would lose child benefit whilst a next door household where there were two £40 000 earners would keep theirs. The Chancellor’s response has been to raise the threshold at which you start to lose benefit to £50 000 but sadly, he has rather missed the point by failing to address single earners’ penalty. Under the new system a single earning household of 61k will lose all their child benefit but a household with two £50 000 earners (100k in total) will keep all of it. That penalises both loan and stay at home parents and, whatever you think of child benefit and who should get it, that kind of anomaly can't be fair. On the wider budget there wasn’t too much to suggest it was the family-friendly version that George O promised us. Most squeezed middlers, I suspect, will approve of the rise in personal allowances but will want to know what effect that will have on tax credits and whether they’ll be drawn into higher rate tax by the new threshold changes. They’ll also, no doubt, be slightly nervous that the announcement of a rolling review of the state pension age will have us all working till we’re eighty. And they might take at look at the cut in the 50p tax rate and conclude that George Osborne in reality had other priorities than them.

Reaction from our pub landlord

2012-03-21T11:34:22-04:00

Mark Daniels, landlord of The Tharp Arms in Chippenham, Cambridgeshire writes for Huffpost saying:

“Mr Speaker, there will be no change to the current rate of alcohol duty.” As alcohol was not one of the topics conveniently leaked in advance of Mr Osbourne’s budget this really didn’t come as a surprise to those of us in the pub trade, but it is a huge disappointment. This was a quick, simple and lazy dismissal of the alcohol industry that took just five seconds to announce. Unfortunately, one of the first comments I saw on Twitter following this statement was a cheerful one from the writer because they could still afford their booze. Well, as an industry, we’ll do our best to make sure they still can but it’s a misconception made by many who will not be aware that this off-the-cuff announcement means that duty on alcohol increases automatically by 2% above inflation – a rise, therefore, of around seven percent. Today’s increase, along with a new tax on games machines of 20%, will put many more small businesses in this trade in jeopardy, along with the many people they employ. Despite the pleas for some leniency in this year’s budget, none has been offered and it shows gobsmacking indifference towards an industry that raises so much passion and debate amongst members of the public and media.

Our favourite moment of the Budget coverage so far - Norman Smith

2012-03-21T11:29:43-04:00

Expert response - Tony Dolphin at the IPPR

2012-03-21T11:29:22-04:00

Writing for Huffpost the IPPR's chief economist says:

Today’s Budget was a missed opportunity. The UK economy has a growth problem caused by a lack of demand. The government is cutting public spending, households have been squeezed by high oil prices (and these are still going up) and businesses are sitting on massive cash piles because of the uncertain outlook for demand. The OBR revised up its forecasts for growth in 2012 fractionally, from 0.7% to 0.8%, but it revised down growth in 2013 from 2.1% to 2.0%. These are hugely disappointing numbers and mean real GDP will not return to its previous peak until the final quarter of 2013. If the Chancellor had been willing to relax his deficit reduction plan, he could have boosted demand directly by increasing government spending or by introducing net tax cuts. But this was never likely to happen because of his past commitment to austerity. Any hint of a slower pace of deficit reduction would have been fatal for the government’s political credibility. He did though have other alternatives. The measures announced to restrict tax reliefs for high earners are welcome but taxes on the wealthiest could have gone up more – for example through a 1% mansion tax on the value of homes above £2 million. This would have a small effect on aggregate consumer spending. But the proceeds could have been used in ways designed specifically to boost the economy: an increase in spending on infrastructure, a jobs guarantee for young, long-term unemployed people or a temporary cut in employees’ national insurance contributions. Instead, the budget is the result of horse-trading between the two parties of the coalition - largely conducted in public over the last few weeks. For the Liberal Democrats, a bigger than previously announced increase in the personal tax allowance; for Conservative backbenchers, a cut in the top rate of tax from 50p to 45p in the £. For Liberal Democrats, restrictions on the tax reliefs of the wealthy; for Conservative backbenchers, an accelerated cut in corporation tax. For Liberal Democrats, increases in stamp duty on houses valued at over £2 million; for Conservative backbenchers, relaxations in planning rules and employment law. But overall, as the Chancellor admitted, this was a fiscally neutral budget. It will do very little to address the problem of weak demand in the economy and as a result, the OBR expects growth to remain disappointing in 2012 and 2013.

Response from Gransnet - furious at pension changes

2012-03-21T11:22:46-04:00

Geraldine Bedell, Editor of Gransnet, writes to Huffpost saying:

After the most heavily trailed budget in history, the rabbit in the hat moment we were all waiting for came not in the form of a mansion or tycoon tax but instead in a tax whammy for pensioners. With the stroke of his pen (or at least a couple of lines of prosaic text in the red book) 4.5m pensioners, nearly half of all pensioners, will be worse off in real terms. Over £1billion of the £3 billion the chancellor is seeking to raise following today’s budget is coming straight from pensioners. This is the biggest tax rise on pensioners in recent memory and stretches the definition of all families ‘fairly sharing the burden of the deficit’ to breaking point. I wrote earlier this week that one response to the recession had been to try and pit generation against generation, but now it seems that the chancellor, has expanded his sights so pensioners too are set to feel the squeeze get much, much tighter. Already affected by low rates of return on savings, higher VAT and ever-rising fuel costs, today’s announcement, - already dubbed by some as the Granny poll tax will hit Gransnetters hard. It’s estimated to amount to anywhere between £63 cut next year to a £291 cut in potential income for older pensioners. Given the other big headline from this budget is tax cuts for millionaires, the chancellor is in danger of setting himself against a new era of grey activism keen to ensure changes to all families’ incomes are fair.

Sketch from AOL money on 'Wallace and Grommit'

2012-03-21T11:08:57-04:00

Our colleagues at AOL money offer this sketch on the Wallace and Grommit Tax Credit announced in the Budget + Video

The Unite union's response...

2012-03-21T11:01:51-04:00

Unite General Secretary, Len McCluskey said:

"This is another wasted year in what is becoming a lost decade for jobs and growth. But worse, this is a year where the poorest will be paying for the gifts lavished on the wealthy. Did Osborne learn nothing from the Thatcher years - trickle down economics do not work. “For the almost three million unemployed, there was not an iota of hope in this Budget. They are not just forgotten, they are being condemned to joblessness. This was a Budget drawn up by a Cabinet of millionaires for millionaires. "And we need to ask, where is the money coming from to pay for the cuts to the top rate in income tax and in corporation tax? His plan to close loopholes will only take him so far. “Raising the personal allowances will be some small relief for millions hard-pressed families – but will only amount to a meagre £4.20p-a-week, when household bills are soaring and VAT remains at 20% because of this government. Contrast that with the loving care Osborne lavishes on the wealthy and it is clear where this government's priorities lie. “The continued drive to press ahead with regional pay will be an economic disaster for the poorest regions of the UK, cementing the North-South divide. Spending power will be drained from these areas, and siphoned off even more rapidly, if George Osborne imposes regional pay."

The budget - according to the papers

2012-03-21T11:01:50-04:00

Now George Osborne has sat down, the papers have delivered their snap verdicts on the Budget. The Mail has high praise for the Chancellor for finding "his mojo". They said that Osborne "oozed moral authority", giving a "calm, self-assured" performance. However, they criticised a "£3bn hidden tax on Britain's pensioners". The Telegraph, also, is concerned about the Chancellor's "pensions raid". However, the Tory house journal applauds the new tax cuts - like for the 50p tax rate. The Mirror has a less positive view. Dubbing him "over-inflated", Kevin Maguire wrote: "The drowning man delivering today’s Budget is the author of his own failure. Osborne cut too soon, too far and too fast." The Guardian has a more thoughtful response - asking simply: "Where is the money coming from?" The budget was a "big, big political gamble" according to the Independent. Meanwhile, the Financial Times have praised the cuts to corporation tax but expressed reservations about the "hit" to pensions.

Taxpayers Alliance response...

2012-03-21T11:00:33-04:00

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, offered this reaction to the Budget:

“There is a lot of good news in the Budget for families who have struggled in the recession. The cuts in corporate and top rate taxes will improve the incentive to invest and innovate, meaning higher wages before tax. Then a higher personal allowance will mean they can keep more of the money they earn. "Unfortunately some of the money is coming from higher taxes on pensioners; there is no relief for motorists from terribly high taxes on petrol and diesel; higher taxes on tobacco will be a boon for criminals selling dodgy cigarettes; and yet another higher rate on Stamp Duty is an unfortunate hike in an ugly tax. But overall this is a Budget that should ease the pressure on people’s living standards and allow most of them to keep more of their money.”

NUT reaction to the Budget:

2012-03-21T10:57:19-04:00

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said:

“This budget will continue to divide society. The period since the election has highlighted the point that public spending cuts hit growth. Reducing public spending even further is an unbelievably backward move. “Attacks on public sector pay and jobs will simply reduce spending power and further depress the economy at a time when investing in the public sector is essential to secure growth. Threats to national pay structures are yet another unjustified attack on public sector workers and will hit spending power hard in the poorest areas of the country. “While the Chancellor rewards the most well off in society with his cuts to taxes for the wealthiest, youth unemployment and child poverty rates are soaring. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that if the Coalition Government’s current policies continue unchanged, child poverty will rise by around 100,000 every year. Failing to address these issues will have major human, social and economic costs. We are clearly not all in this together. “High quality education is essential to economic growth, yet this Government has failed on its promise to protect investment in schools and colleges. While the Government pursues its unnecessary and expensive academies and Free Schools agenda, the majority of schools and colleges are left struggling to cope with the effects of cuts to schools’, colleges’ and local authorities’ budgets. No Government can afford to underfund society’s future; cuts in education undermine not only the economy, but social cohesion as well.”

CBI Reaction to Osborne's statement

2012-03-21T10:56:43-04:00

John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said:

“Family budgets have been under great pressure, and by putting more money in the pockets of ordinary people, the Chancellor has provided a much-needed confidence boost. “The Chancellor has also painted a clearer vision of how the UK will earn its living in the future and, by seizing the opportunity to make sure our corporate tax system is more internationally competitive, he has sent a powerful signal to companies to invest, do business and create jobs in the UK. “An extra one per cent off corporation tax this year could make a big difference to investment intentions. Plans to reduce the top rate of tax to 45p by April 2013 will show our top and aspiring talent that this Government wants them to create wealth here. “With many calls on the Chancellor to spend money he didn’t have, the best news for businesses is that he stuck to his guns and delivered a fiscally neutral programme. “If businesses were looking for more, it was in the area of deregulation. For smaller businesses, things may not feel very different on the ground. It would have also have been a huge relief if the Chancellor had taken the opportunity to get rid of the currently unworkable Carbon Reduction Commitment.”

Citizens Advice responds:

2012-03-21T10:54:41-04:00

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive at national charity Citizens Advice said:

"Raising the personal tax allowance is an empty gesture to struggling families on low wages. Poorer working families who get housing and council tax benefits will not get all of the money in their pocket – because as their income goes up, their benefits will go down. The Government must make sure the poorest feel the full financial impact of this raise by changing the levels of disregarded income when calculating benefits.”

Ken Livingstone's reaction

2012-03-21T10:53:13-04:00

The under-fire Labour candidate - who was mocked for his tax arrangements at PMQs - has issued his response. Ken Livingstone said,

“George Osborne’s Tory budget a bad for London and dream come true for Tory Mayor Boris Johnson. After years of campaigning for a tax cut for the super-rich at the expense of ordinary Londoners Boris Johnson has finally got his way. ‘The winners from today’s budget are the super-rich and their champion Tory Boris Johnson, the losers are the majority of Londoners. ‘When it comes to the big issues that affect millions of people in London, Tory Boris Johnson has failed to stand up for Londoners time and time again. The government’s economic policies have failed in London. ‘What we needed was a Budget for jobs and growth which focused every penny available on helping hard-pressed families on middle and low incomes. At a time when people on middle and low incomes are being squeezed, seeing their tax credits cut and when one in four young Londoners are out of work, it is completely the wrong priority to cut taxes for people earning over £150,000.”

Rural campaigners worried about an 'airport disaster'

2012-03-21T10:29:52-04:00

Adam Royle, spokesman for CPRE, says:

“We heard yet more of the Chancellor's misguided and dangerous rhetoric on planning today. If the Government undermines sound planning, it will put sustainable economic growth at risk. Countries like Germany show that good economic performance and strong planning systems can go hand in hand. “We will have to wait until next Tuesday when the final planning framework is to be published to see if the voices of reason in Government will yet win out. “From the Chancellor's words we fear the longstanding protection for the wider countryside will be abandoned. That would mean that 55% of English countryside, including many locally loved green spaces, could be placed at the mercy of developers. “Also extremely worrying is the suggestion that communities may not be given any time to ensure their local plans conform to the new framework . This could leave more then one third of areas that don't currently have a plan exposed to a crude ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’. “On the basis of the budget statement, the Government's promise that the planning reforms are about empowering local people looks very hollow indeed.”

2012-03-21T10:02:04-04:00

The Tory MP who first floated the idea of the personal tax statements says:

“I am delighted that the government has adopted my proposal. I believe that these tax statements will transform our democracy, re-engaging voters with politicians and reminding them of the power of their vote. "This information has been hidden from taxpayers for too long in government spreadsheets comprehensible only to Treasury mandarins and accountants. The government has changed this. How it spends our money is a truth that will soon be told.”

Airlines dismayed at no changes to air passenger duty

2012-03-21T09:59:13-04:00

Mike Carrivick, chief executive of BAR UK says: The Chancellor’s decision to push ahead with the double inflation increase in Air Passenger Duty (APD) in today’s budget has been branded as a reckless brake on the economy by the Board of Airline Representatives in the UK (BAR UK). The organisation, representing over 80 airlines, is critical that widespread opposition to the exorbitant increases is being ignored by the Chancellor, citing that his Treasury continues to treat air travellers as an easy target.

Unsurprisingly, the Unison union hates the speech

2012-03-21T09:57:47-04:00

Unison leader Dave Prentice says:

“The Chancellor’s budget has given a helping hand-out to his rich friends in the City and delivered a slap in the face to the unemployed and low paid families. “Osborne should be delivering policies to get the 2.67m unemployed people back into work and economically active. Instead, the Government’s cuts agenda is making the situation worse by adding to those numbers month by month. Since the coalition came to power, we have seen 625 public sector workers joining the dole queues every single day, bringing misery to hundreds of thousands of families."

Ed Miliband goes after Clegg for supporting the "millionaire's budget"

2012-03-21T09:44:54-04:00

Clegg has "rolled over and said, 'Yes, Prime MInister'"

Nice panto in the chamber as Ed Miliband urges a show of hands

2012-03-21T09:43:39-04:00

Less of a speech than a bit of slapstick in the Commons. Ed Miliband urges the Cabinet to raise their hands or nod if they are going to benefit from the 50p tax changes. The Cabinet suddenly become statuesque! Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan is shaking her head. "At least he'll be able to buy his own horse," Ed Miliband. Even the PM acknowledges it's a good gag.

Ed Miliband - Wrong choices, wrong values, wrong priorities

2012-03-21T09:41:51-04:00

The Labour leader says it's a "massive tax cut for his Christmas card list" - saying the rich will get richer as a result of the tax changes.

Ed Miliband: Today marks the end of "we're all in it together"

2012-03-21T09:33:34-04:00

He didn't get very far before the Deputy Speaker interrupted.

Osborne: We're going to earn our way out of trouble

2012-03-21T09:31:20-04:00

In a shortish 59 minute budget speech, Osborne says Labour has borrowed its way into trouble, the coalition is earning its way out of it. Some big changes - most of them won't be felt by the majority for a year - but a few are immediate. If you're a smoker or thinking of finding a way of avoiding stamp duty, life just got a bit harder!

Personal threshold raised to £9205 next April

2012-03-21T09:28:53-04:00

"I want to go much further and much faster" says Osborne, raising the threshold by £1,100 next years. Millions of working people on low and middle incomes will be £220 better off. 24 million people earning less than £100,000 a year apparently. "As a result of our budgets, people working full-time on a minimum wage will see their income tax bill cut in half", saying the changes will take 2m out of tax altogether.

Child Benefit changes

2012-03-21T09:26:33-04:00

to avoid a "cliff edge" The threshold for losing child benefit goes up to £50,000 for any earner in an family. It then rises more slowly, rather than all at once. Only those with an income of more than £60,000 will lose or their benefits. Apparently 750,000 will now find they're not losing all their child benefit.

Osborne it will increase by 5 times the amount the richest pay

2012-03-21T09:23:34-04:00

"The richest pay more, the economy benefits, Britain s competitive again"

The 50p rate becomes 45p from April 2013

2012-03-21T09:22:25-04:00

It is the highest in the G20, higher than any other major powers. It is "widely acknowledged" to be harming the british economy. It can only be justified if it raises significant sums of money, they have done a review at HMRC, and they show that 50p has caused "massive distortions" £16bn of income was shifted into the previous tax year, at a cost to the taxpayer of £1bn. If that's true then it's a terrible indictment on Alastair Darling. It only raised £1bn - a third of the £3bn it was meant to raise.

Tax avoidance clampdowns

2012-03-21T09:19:04-04:00

Tax avoidance clampdowns Consultation on the details coming next year, but for now stamp duty rules will change, and they are going to penalise people from buying homes through businesses The charge goes up to 15% for people who buy homes over £2m in this way - immediately. From midnight tonight stamp duty goes up more generally to 7% on properties over £2m - regardless of how they are purchased. Osborne says he will move swiftly to clamp down further on other abuses. "People have been warned," he tells MPs.

No changes to fuel duty - it WILL go up later this year

2012-03-21T09:14:43-04:00

Lots of people will be upset abut this.

Duties - booze unchanged, but cigs up - a lot!

2012-03-21T09:12:53-04:00

Alcohol duty - unchanged, but the government will do minimum pricing, so don't expect it to stay that way for long! Tobacco - duty on ALL tobacco products to rise 37p on a packet of cigarettes from 6pm tonight.

Corporation tax cut to 24 percent - falling to 22 percent in 2 years

2012-03-21T09:10:24-04:00

"an advertisement for investment and jobs in britain"

Pensioners personal allowance frozen

2012-03-21T09:09:37-04:00

Pensioners "will not lose in cash terms" says Osborne,but it means they will lose in real terms as inflation erodes pension

New tax statement confirmed

2012-03-21T09:08:09-04:00

This is Ben Gummer's idea from a 10 minute rule bill last month. It will show exactly how much each taxpayer pays towards each department. Crucially it will show how much money is going towards servicing national debt - a blatantly political move by the coalition.

New single tier state pension for new pensioners

2012-03-21T09:06:53-04:00

Osborne wants to simplify the relationship between the main pension and the Second State Pension (SSP) In addition to the pre-announced rise of £5.30 a week. There will be a single tier pension for new pensioners. "A single, generous basic state pension"

Business tax changes

2012-03-21T09:05:21-04:00

- Simplification for filling in tax returns - affecting 3m workers in small business - VAT simplified - so strange anomalies surrounding "nutrition drinks" and some kinds of fast foods changed - so they pay VAT. - But books and children's clothes will stay out of VAT

Tax changes coming...

2012-03-21T09:03:12-04:00

It's all gone quiet.

Regional pay deals confirmed - to start later this year

2012-03-21T09:02:25-04:00

Osborne says London Weighting already exists, so "we should see what we can do to make our public sector more responsive" They are publishing the evidence from the Treasury to support this today. Some government departments can begin varying their payscales by the end of this year.

Sunday trading laws relaxed for 8 weeks starting on July 22

2012-03-21T09:00:29-04:00

...as expected!

NPPF - the major planning reforms - out next Tuesday

2012-03-21T09:00:04-04:00

Bit of a surprise - it was expected to be announced alongside the Budget.

Investment for broadband and wifi in cities...

2012-03-21T08:59:06-04:00

They include... Belfast Birmigham Bradford Bristol Cardiff Edinburgh Leeds Newcastle ....and london! Osborne says there will be a separate £50m for smaller cities as well.

The "Wallace and Grommit" tax credit..

2012-03-21T08:57:15-04:00

Tax credits for the video games and animation industries, along the lines of the tax credit for the film industry. The Tories like that.... a lot! But the Deputy Speaker is telling the backbenchers to be quiet.

Osborne accelerating North Sea oil and gas production

2012-03-21T08:55:31-04:00

A major package of tax changes for the North Sea oil and gas industry. They will end deconstruction taxes which have brought "uncertainty to the industry". He announces "a huge investment" in operations off Shetland.

Osborne's green scepticism coming through now?...

2012-03-21T08:54:19-04:00

Renewable energy will pay a crucial part, but I will always be alert to the costs we are asking families to bear. Energy has to be "financially sustainable as well as environmentally sustainable"

Money for Wales and Scotland (he doesn't say how much)

2012-03-21T08:53:22-04:00

We will offer enhanced capital allowances in the new Scottish enterprise areas. A new Welsh Enterprise Zone in Deeside.

£70m for London for new business and jobs

2012-03-21T08:52:41-04:00

The government very keen on new crossings in East London (there are no bridges east of Tower Bridge at the moment)

Pumping money into northern England railways

2012-03-21T08:51:20-04:00

Network Rail to extend the Northern Hub, electrifying the line between Manchester and Sheffield. This is something that a lot of people in the North have been calling for - including the IPPR last week.

Osborne blasts "protectionist rhetoric"

2012-03-21T08:49:58-04:00

But we are selling more to Ireland than all the BRIC countries put together. Osborne wants to double exports to £1tn this decade. "We must never allow protectionist rhetoric to creep into our political system," says Osborne. He wants London to be an "offshore market for the Chinese currency"

Always believe in your soul

2012-03-21T08:46:52-04:00

The value of the UK's gold holdings have risen to £11bn. Osborne says the gold Gordon Brown sold off at the bottom of the market for £2bn would now be worth six times that. A highly political dig.

Armed Forces personnel serving overseas taken out of council tax

2012-03-21T08:45:18-04:00

£100m of improvements for support for Armed Forces announced, and crucially Council Tax relief for service personnel increased to 100% for those currently serving overseas. They are in effect being taken out of council tax altogether.

State pension age to be reviewed automatically

2012-03-21T08:42:56-04:00

"To keep pace with increases in longevity" - so a pension age escalator in all but name.

Welfare budget will rise to consume 1/3 of all public spending

2012-03-21T08:42:20-04:00

"The next spending review will have to confront this," says Osborne.

Deficit forecasts - 1bn lower than forecast in November.

2012-03-21T08:40:45-04:00

Borrowing this year is £126bn - £1bn lower than forecast and 3£0bn lower than its peak in 2009. Borrowing to fall to £120bn next year Deficit down to £21bn by 2016. Structural deficit to be eliminated by 2015/16. Our total debt will start to fall in that financial year.

No deficit widening giveaways

2012-03-21T08:38:57-04:00

Osborne says it's a fiscally neutral budget, with modest reductions in tax and spending.

OBR expects claimant count to be slightly smaller.

2012-03-21T08:38:30-04:00

Unemployment rate forecast to peak at 8.7% this year 100,000 lower than previously thought. Peaking at 1.67 million this year, rather than 1.8 million.

OBR says UK economy growth 'broadly unchanged', recssion avoided

2012-03-21T08:36:50-04:00

"positive growth" in Quarter 1 expected, and the OBR has slightly revised up UK growth forecasts .8 percent in 2012 2 percent in 2013 2.7 percent in 2014 3 percent in 2015 and 2016.

OBR downgrades Eurozone prospects

2012-03-21T08:35:33-04:00

The Office for Budget Responsibility downgrades the eurozone growth estimates for 2012 from 0.8 percent to -0.3 percent

This budget rewards work, says Osborne

2012-03-21T08:34:05-04:00

Osborne says it;

re-affirms our commitment to deal with the record deficit.
will be a reforming budget on manufacturing
will contain far-reaching tax reform, a simpler tax system in which taxpayers understand what they are paying
will lift millions of people out of tax altogether
will encourage Britain to 'earn our way in the world'

PM hails his 'kaleidoscope budget', in tribute to Bercow.

2012-03-21T08:31:02-04:00

@ gabyhinsliff : that kaleidoscope was VERY cheeky. i suspect the PM is feeling quite chipper about this Budget.

Osborne's family come out to support him on his big day

2012-03-21T08:27:25-04:00

@ joncraig : George Osborne's father-in-law Lord (David) Howell in peers' gallery to hear Budget. Ah, bless! Warsi now moved from MPs' seats to peers'.

News on the threshold and a - wait for it - CARAVAN tax

2012-03-21T08:22:56-04:00

@ Hariboconomics : Tax-free allowance is to rise to £9205, I understand. In more shocking news, he's going to put VAT on caravans. #budget

Is Ed Miliband saving his best for the Budget?

2012-03-21T08:19:39-04:00

@ chrisshipitv : Clearly EdM going for understated performance at #pmqs. Saving his best lines for the cameras for his #budget response #pmqs

Tom Clark explains Miliband's PMQs strategy

2012-03-21T08:16:52-04:00

@ guardian_clark : Ed Mili has adopted a statesman-like posture to avoid looking like he's obsessed with taxing rich. Feels v flat though

Does Dave know the London bus fare?

2012-03-21T08:15:32-04:00

@ Kevin_Maguire : Oh dear. The people's toff David Cameron doesn't know the London bus fare. Clever trap laid by Huw-Irranca Davies #pmqs

The chamber is so crowded one MP has to push forward to speak

2012-03-21T08:14:57-04:00

It's Richard Drax, who was so far to the back of the coalition benches the TV cameras strained to get him into shot.

Cameron Mocks Livingstone

2012-03-21T08:13:57-04:00

David Cameron is having fun with allegations that Ken Livingstone has a dodgy record on paying tax. "The difference between Boris and Ken is Boris pays his taxes and Ken doesn't," the PM says with glee.

Miliband isn't finished yet...

2012-03-21T08:13:28-04:00

@ Lobbydog : Waiting for Miliband to get back up as he only asked three Qs I think #pmqs

Lots of Ken bashing at PMQs

2012-03-21T08:13:23-04:00

Labour are trying to give their man some support by pointing out Boris' fare hikes. Cameron just says that Boris pays his taxes and Ken doesn't. Tories love it.

The City is looking forward to the Budget, says Owen Jones.

2012-03-21T08:11:54-04:00

@ OwenJones84 : I'm in the City talking to bankers. A buoyant mood in advance of the likely reduction of the top rate of tax #Budget12

Another awkward Ed Miliband moment...

2012-03-21T08:09:38-04:00

@ PSbook : BBC gets its graphics wrong and calls @Ed_Miliband David #PMQs http://t.co/maeG8Kir

Is Ed Miliband holding back?

2012-03-21T08:08:27-04:00

@ glenoglazaSky : #pmqs Miliband sticking with Afghanistan. Consensual. Not going on govt borrowing or matters financial. Keeping powder dry for later?

Statuesque cabinet ministers, says Sophie Ridge.

2012-03-21T08:08:19-04:00

@ SophyRidgeSky : Clegg & Osborne staring resolutely at the floor without moving: trying not to give away any emotion before the Budget? #pmqs #skybudget

#pmqs main exchanges focusing on Afghanistan

2012-03-21T08:07:33-04:00

By convention the PMQs immediately prior to the Budget statement don't touch on economic matters. Ed Miliband is asking about Cameron's relationship with Afghan president Hamid Karzai over the transition and drawdown of combat troops by NATO. It's all very civilised, with Cameron thanking Ed Miliband for his questions about re-starting the political process. The PM is reiterating his commitment to handing over to the Afghan security forces by the end of 2014, and that he believes this can happen even without a political settlement in Kabul.

Introducing the 'Robin Hood' budget...!

2012-03-21T08:07:09-04:00

@ afneil : Lib Dems to call this Robin Hood Budget thanks to them. But will not get tycoon tax or mansion tax. Only mild variants at best #budget12

Don't Forget Prime Minister's Questions

2012-03-21T08:05:44-04:00

It may be Budget day but first we have prime minister's questions. David Cameron goes for Ed Miliband's decision to go to a Hull FC match but ditch a rally against the NHS Bill. "What was it that first attracted Ed Miliband to the multi-millionaire owner of Hull FC?" he asks. The discussion then moves on to Afghanistan. Cameron tellsMPs about his talks with President Obama. He says further decisions on withdrawal will be made at the forthcoming Chicago summit.

#pmqs starts with a 'sickie' jibe at Ed Miliband

2012-03-21T08:03:53-04:00

The PM has been waiting to deliver that one. He wasn't here last week because of his trip to Washington. Not sure if he was correct about Ed M's Hull FC match being 'three hours later' than the NHS rally Miliband missed though. They were reportedly a day apart.

No fuel duty change?

2012-03-21T07:55:01-04:00

@ TimMontgomerie : Nothing significant on fuel duty in #Budget - Disappointment for Sun, @Halfon4Harlow MP and motorists #Unconfirmed

Catty tweet from David Mundell

2012-03-21T07:53:42-04:00

@ DavidMundellMP : Have to be in Chamber early for PMQs and Budget, otherwise Queen's young MPs will take all the seats.

The 'Holding The Box' Moment

2012-03-21T07:40:26-04:00

George Osborne has stepped out of No.11 Downing Street for the traditional photograph. He didn't drop the box. Which was good.

The press pack awaits Osborne...

2012-03-21T07:12:18-04:00

Corporation Tax Cut In The Offing?

2012-03-21T06:54:39-04:00

@ jameschappers : Big pre-Budget buzz on corporation tax. Will Osborne signal he wants to go to 20p? Or lower still? #budget

Paul Johnson from the Institute of Fiscal Studies

2012-03-21T06:28:30-04:00

Appears in this BBC video filmed for the Daily Politics

Chris Bryant quips...

2012-03-21T06:26:30-04:00

@ ChrisBryantMP : Basically today's statement at 1230 will be more a review of the papers than a proper budget

Our preview panel - what do they want Osborne to do?

2012-03-21T06:22:41-04:00

A disparate array of voices on what they'd like to see George Osborne do can be taken in here.

Fiona Cuthbertson, Keystone Consulting

Geraldine Bedell, Editor, Gransnet

Mark Daniels, Pub Landlord

Ros Altmann, Chief Executive, SAGA

Mark Corcoran-Lettice, unemployed graduate

Betting odds

2012-03-21T06:20:19-04:00

Here's what you can get from William Hill: Will the 50% tax disappear in 2012 21st March budget? Will disappear after budget – 10/3 Will remain after budget – 1/5 What will happen to fuel duty in 2012 21st March budget? Increase in fuel duty - 8/1 Remain unchanged - 2/5 Decrease in fuel duty - 7/4 *Increase in fuel duty includes the planned inflation-linked duty rise announced in 2011. Will the planned rise in the Personal Allowance to £10000 by April 2015 be brought forward? 5/2 yes, 2/7 no Will a Mansion Tax be introduced in the budget? 1/33 no 10/1 yes Will Air Passenger Duty Be Raised? 1/8 yes 9/2 no

The UK's public sector net borrowing has risen by £15.2bn

2012-03-21T05:42:54-04:00

It has just been revealed that the UK’s public sector net borrowing, excluding financial interventions, rose by a larger than expected £15.2 billion in February, up from £8.9 billion a year earlier. Government borrowing for the first 11 months of the financial year 2011/12 is now £110 billion, putting the Chancellor £17 billion away from the full-year target of £127 billion.

Treasury statements due today

2012-03-21T05:28:43-04:00

The Treasury has three written ministerial statements this morning. One on "anti-avoidance" one on "tax policy" and one on "debt and reserves". We'll bring you any details when they are available.

David Miliband has popped up on Twitter

2012-03-21T05:16:28-04:00

@ DMiliband : Budget Day shows more than any other what it means to be out of power - and our constituents pay the price.

The Labour leader has attacked the plan to cut the top rate of tax

2012-03-21T05:14:34-04:00

Ed Miliband has just issued a statement on the expected cut in the 50p rate of tax: “It is completely the wrong priority to cut taxes for the richest people in Britain earning over £150,000 a year. “The Government’s economic plan is failing. "What we need today is action to get jobs and growth moving in this country. "What the Chancellor must do is ensure that every penny he can raise from those at the top is spent on helping millions of ordinary families who are struggling to get by."

Policy Exchange boss says regional pay deals don't go far enough

2012-03-21T04:43:12-04:00

In this article for the Telegraph Neil O'Brien argues that for the reforms to really work, Osborne will have to go further:

One of the most important benefits of ending national pay bargaining is the opportunity to link public sector workers pay to their performance, not time served. As the Telegraph leader put it: "to create a proper link between talent, effort and reward, by enabling not just regional but local and individual pay bargaining." This means trying to get away from automatic annual promotion up national salary scales – rather than just creating a separate scale for each region. Just doing that would leave a lot of the problems of national pay bargaining intact. We have been doing some work on this recently, going around talking to Britain's biggest private firms about how they manage pay. While lots of them vary pay around the country, they are at least as focussed on trying to match pay to performance.

Other political happenings today...

2012-03-21T04:17:19-04:00

Total Politics does this every day, but particularly handy today if you've decided the Budget's been leaked so much there's no point paying attention. It's all the other stories happening at Westminster on Wednesday.

"The most promiscuous political orgy of the year."

2012-03-21T04:05:20-04:00

Writing in the Guardian Simon Jenkins argues that the Lib Dems remain the losers in this budget:

The chief tussle with the Liberal Democrats has been over the biggest such loophole, Britain's highly regressive property levy, local council tax. Here the Liberal Democrats appear to have lost. If the party's Vince Cable had advocated one or more upper council tax bands as in Wales, rather than a national "mansion tax" on capital value, he might have scored. But Cable is a centralist at heart. He thus deprived his party of the chance to claim one truly progressive tax victory.

City AM says the big story will be 'buried' today

2012-03-21T03:58:37-04:00

@ AllisterHeath : Budget means that the French mass murderer story will be buried in UK - but even huger global story now he says he's al-Qaeda

The spin begins (VIDEO)

2012-03-21T03:58:17-04:00

Expect a lot more of this once George Osborne has sat down. Ministers will face an almighty battle to convince people that they haven't just helped the rich. A long document's expected from the Treasury on why 50p tax hasn't raised the money that was expected. It won't be light reading, but Clegg will know it off by heart by the end of the week.

Rachel Reeves blog on Huffpost ahead of the statement today

2012-03-21T03:49:58-04:00

Labour's number two on the treasury team blogs here on Huffost on what the Chancellor should do today. She writes:

He should reverse cuts to tax credits next month, and cancel planned changes to rules on working hours that would leave some low paid couples with children better off quitting work. These changes could be paid for by a clampdown on the avoidance of stamp duty on properties worth over £1 million, and by reversing a pension tax relief boost the Chancellor has given to people on incomes of more than £150,000. We are also calling for an urgent rethink of changes to child benefit due to come in next January that would mean a single mum, or family where mum or dad stays at home, on £43,000 would lose all their child benefit, while a dual earner household on £84,000 could keep all of theirs.

Tycoon Tax - has it been spiked?

2012-03-20T10:51:41-04:00

Judging from the latest rumours, the tycoon tax will not be appearing in the Budget tomorrow. The Times quotes "an ally of the Chancellor" saying that tomorrow’s Budget is to designed to promote enterprise and "therefore such language is inappropriate".

Ben Gummer: "delighted" at success of personal tax statements

2012-03-20T09:38:16-04:00

Ben Gummer has told the Huffington Post UK of his delight that the government is "listening to backbenchers". He said: "The success [of my Ten Minute Rule Bill] shows that the government is listening to backbenchers and open to fresh ideas. It shows a new level of openness and I am delighted that they have acknowledged calls for this measure". Gummer said that he knew, when he originally proposed idea, that it was supported by the Treasury. However, he was pleaseantly surprised at the speed they have taken it up. Gummer has already been praised for putting forward one of the most successful backbench motions in recent times. Given the success of his January motion, Gummer was coy about what else he wanted the government to do next. "Let's focus on getting this done for now", he told the Huffington Post UK, "I am not a one-man thinktank, I am working to serve my constituents".

Tory MPs welcome the news on credit easing

2012-03-20T07:08:19-04:00

@ Freeman_George : Credit Easing will be a serious boost to small / fast growth businesses: £21 billion of Loan Guarantees and Co-investmt finance. Good news.

Ed Balls and George Osborne - united by the Queen?

2012-03-20T06:41:06-04:00

@ IsabelHardman : Something slightly unsettling about watching George Osborne&Ed Balls have a cosy chinwag, smiling merrily away, while waiting for the Queen

Tim Montgomerie calls for a mansion tax

2012-03-20T06:31:26-04:00

Leading Conservative blogger Tim Montgomerie has called for the Tories to implement a mansion tax. In a Guardian article this morning, he compared the potential to Labour's Clause Four moment. He argued that a mansion tax could help reconnect the Tories with the "northern strivers" and pave the way for a majority at the next election:

What Cameron and Osborne need is a blood-on-the-carpet moment that demonstrates they are on the side of working families. Nothing is more likely to help the two men counter the notion that they are out-of-touch than a battle with elements within their own party who want them to defend people who got rich from the property boom. They should relish a fight with Tory MPs who are more worried about people with £2m homes than people on incomes of £20,000. Every penny raised should be used to fund tax relief for working people. It should be the beginning of a much broader move to increase tax on wealth and cut tax on wealth creation as well as lighten the load of those still aspiring to the first rung of the housing ladder.

Just in case you had doubts about the 50p tax rate cut

2012-03-20T06:22:51-04:00

The government will release figures to suggest that, with the 50p tax rate abolished, the rich will still pay more in tax. The figures will suggest that the amount the rich save will be outweighed by what they'll pay in a changes to stamp duty, a tax avoidance clampdown and a tycoon tax by a two to one ratio.

Ever wanted to know what the govt spends your money on?

2012-03-20T06:13:57-04:00

Now, thanks to the Budget, the coalition will release personal statements that lay out for taxpayers what their money is being spent on. These personal tax statements are set to be implemented in time for the year 2014-2015. Their pupose will be to make the tax system simpler and more transparent. This idea was suggested a few months ago by a Tory MP - Ben Gummer. According to specimen documents from the Treasury, a person earning £25,200 a year sees £5,702.12 of their income go to the Exchequer in direct taxation. Of that, the biggest slice goes on welfare which accounts for £1,900.71, followed by £992.91 for health and £743.26 for education. Interest payments on the national debt account for £363.12 - somewhat ahead of the £329.08 for defence and more than double the £153.19 for the police. Overseas aid gets £56.74 while £28.37 goes towards the cost of Britain's contribution to the European Union.

The Budget - what do we know so far?

2012-03-19T12:46:34-04:00

Given the amount of leaks and speculation on the budget, we thought it worth compiling it all into a helpful guide.

LibDems call for budget to be "for the many, not the few".

2012-03-19T11:12:42-04:00

Co-Chair of the LibDem Parliamentary Treasury Committee Stephen Williams has said the budget should be for the "many, not the few" on Wednesday. He said: “The Budget on Wednesday has to be a budget for the many, not the few. “Already, the Coalition Government is doing the right thing and helping average working people. Thanks for the Liberal Democrats 25m people across the UK will receive a £130 tax cut this April and we’ll have lifted 1.1m people out of paying Income Tax all together. “In these difficult times, it is clear the Coalition Government must now do more to help those struggling with bills and the rising cost of living. Going further and faster towards raising the Income Tax threshold to £10,000 is a straightforward way of achieving this objective. “By lifting more than 2.5m people in the UK out of paying tax altogether and giving millions more a substantial tax cut we give real support to low and middle earners – a helping hand during tough times.”

Is @steve_mccabe rehearsing the Labour line on 50p tax?

2012-03-19T09:53:15-04:00

@ steve_mccabe : What do most people think? Is a cut in top rate of tax proof that we're all in it together or govt of Old Etonians looking after the rich?

Has Simon Hughes accepted the 50p tax rate will go?

2012-03-19T09:24:03-04:00

Deputy LibDem leader Simon Hughes has told the BBC that he wants the the Chancellor will deliver a "budget for the millions, not the millionaires". Pressed on his opposition to the 50p tax rate as "not the right thing", Hughes admitted it was "not our priority". But, he said his key test for the budget will be if: "people on higher incomes are paying more or paying less to help us out of the economic mess that Labour left us in" He insisted that the budget was a "coalition budget". He said he would be satisfied with it if he could look his constituents "in the eye and say this has been a good budget for us [and that] people will know that we have fought for them".

Few people avoid the 50p tax rate - says Tory MP

2012-03-19T08:50:17-04:00

The many suggestions that the coalition will scrap the 50p tax rate for high earners was deemed a move to please business-owners and Tory MPs. One of the main reasons that people have called for its abolition is the suspciion that high earners are moving abroad and managing to avoid the tax rate - so there is no net profit for the government. However one Tory MP is more muted in approval. Speaking to the BBC's Daily Politics this afternoon, Andrea Leadsom said: "I don't think the 50p tax is a tax rate people can actually easily avoid"

Blair's advice for the coalition

2012-03-19T08:42:51-04:00

@ AnushkaAsthana : Blair says being PM you "begin at your most popular and least capable and end at your least popular and most capable". #TimesAfrica

Is this where Britain's roads are heading?

2012-03-19T08:41:49-04:00

@ IsabelHardman : PM gave interesting answer on tolling existing roads: "We're talking about new capacity": example of "new capacity" on A14 paid for by toll.

Jeremy Hunt has some good news for local sport

2012-03-19T08:38:10-04:00

@ Jeremy_Hunt : £2m for community sport from @CabinetOfficeUK – grt news + great partnership w @LegacyTrustUK. Example of #London2012 legacy in action

Up for sale - Britain's roads?

2012-03-19T08:35:06-04:00

The government has called for private sector companies to have a greater role in managing Britain's roads. The Prime Minister has revealed that the government was considering letting companies manage and charge tolls for new roads. Labour has claimed the government's plans would "risk simply driving traffic onto local roads". David Cameron announced this idea in a speech on infrastructure this morning. He said there was an urgent need to repair its "decades-long degradation" and to "build for the future with as much confidence and ambition as the Victorians once did". He warned that Britain was "falling behind" its competitors due the lacklustre state of its infrastructure.

Could the Sunday trading extension be obstructed?

2012-03-19T08:25:44-04:00

After the Chancellor suggested that the restricted trading hours for businesses on Sundays may be relaxed, opponents have lined up to express their dismay at the idea. Shopworkers' union Usdaw warned its members "vehemently opposed" the idea. General secretary John Hannett said: "The government's own consultation just last year showed there is no widespread support from either retailers or the general public for change. Ministers hope to see the policy n place by Easter, implementing it through emergency legislation. There is a particular hope that it'll be in place for the 2012 Olympics, allowing tourists to capitalise on the extra time for shopping.

A LibDem victory on Minimum Wage?

2012-03-19T08:19:32-04:00

The government have announced, in the run-up to the Budget, that the minimum wage is set to increase by 11p to £6.19 per hour. The minimum wage for workers aged under 21 will be unchanged - a decision that has been criticised by union leaders. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the minimum wage should have kept pace with inflation. "It is wrong to deny young people an increase this year, as there is no evidence that the minimum wage has had an adverse impact on jobs," The minimum wage was introduced in 1999 at £3.60 an hour for adults. The Tories have had a record as not being initial supporters of the minimum wage - so could this boost be chalked up as a LibDem win?

Osborne - Sunday Trading 'A Great Idea', hints at further review

2012-03-18T05:58:46-04:00

The Chancellor says the change is "just for the Olympics", but adds "maybe we'll learn lessons from it" - suggesting it might become more permanent. Ed Balls says it's a bad idea and that "keep Sunday special" is an important campaign.

Osborne tells #marr- Decisions taken a week ago

2012-03-18T05:44:25-04:00

George Osborne has said that he's bemused that newspaper reports of 'last minute' wrangling with the coalition. He insists that "the big decisions" were taken last monday and sent to the OBR, the next couple of days will be about "how we present the Budget", with the language and tone now up for discussion among The Quad

Labour MP @jreedmp Has A Conspiracy Theory..

2012-03-18T04:28:53-04:00

@ jreedmp : Ed Miliband's office broken into,only days before the budget. Has Cameron called in the plumbers?

Have the Lib Dems Been Pwned?

2012-03-18T03:05:24-04:00

@ Redpeter99 : The Tory ownership of the Lib Dems is now complete. The Budget will be a "red in tooth and claw" Tory one. The battle lines will be drawn.

Not impressed at all...

2012-03-18T02:38:38-04:00

@ skynewsniall : @OliverCooper Suspense? From a budget?! That would be a welcome break from recent form.

Somone's not impressed...

2012-03-18T02:38:24-04:00

@ skynewsniall : A relaxation of Sunday trading laws? THAT'S what the Treasury is briefing out the Sunday before Budget?? Hmm.

The Lib Dems Won't Give Up On Mansion Taxes

2012-03-17T06:33:38-04:00

Despite widespread predictions that it won't be in the Budget, the Telegraph hears from Lib Dems who still insist on the merits of a mansion tax.

Ed Davey, the Energy Secretary, broke the Coalition truce to make the case for taxing the “assets, land and property” of the wealthy more intensively just five days before the Chancellor’s statement. Mr Davey, the newest Lib Dem in the Cabinet, said he knew the Conservatives would “have a problem with that” but declared: “Conservatives have their priorities... and we have ours.”

Americans ignored Cameron, but a tax break for Downton...

2012-03-17T06:32:06-04:00

Fascinating that the Chicago Tribune has picked up on the apparent tax breaks for the TV industry - particularly for expensive shows like Downton Abbey. This from a US media which barely noticed the PM came to Washington DC and New York this week! The Tribune says:

Countries such as Ireland, which offers up to a 28% tax credit and housed filming for productions such as "Camelot" and "The Tudors," and Canada and Hungary, both of which housed "Titanic," the new production from "Downton Abbey" scribe Julian Fellowes, have become increasingly attractive locations for lensing productions thanks to forgiving tax breaks. Left Bank Pictures' "Strike Back," based on the tomes by Chris Ryan, is produced in South Africa, which has a tax break of around 20%. "This could be a shot in the arm that U.K. television production needs," Left Bank topper and producer Andy Harries told Variety. "It would be fantastic for the industry as a whole as it will mean that overseas producers as well will look to the U.K. as a whole to shoot. And it's brilliant to potentially give producers the choice to work in the U.K., so one doesn't have to automatically think of Canada, Hungary or South Africa."

The Times: Overall This Will Be A Tax-Raising Budget For The Wealthy

2012-03-17T06:21:53-04:00

The lead article on the Budget in Saturday's times says:

Informed sources said last night that lowering the top rate of income tax to 45p for those on more than £150,000 a year, rather than returning to the pre-2010 rate of 40p for all higher earners, had been accepted as a compromise. But it is a gamble for the Lib Dems. Despite securing guarantees that the top 1 per cent of earners will be hit in other ways after the Budget, the symbolism of cutting the 50p tax band could be highly damaging. “The one worry is that 50p is a very colourful and easy-to-understand tax,” said a senior figure. “But if by closing off all the current exits that wealthy people have from taxes means we end up getting more from them, then it’s a good story for us.”

David Aaronovitch another confused columnist

2012-03-17T06:19:41-04:00

@ DAaronovitch : In pre-budget leaks are right I am in danger - as at the time of the election of IDS - of completely failing to understand Tory thinking.

It's okay David - Benedict Brogan was equally baffled yesterday

Harriet Harman quite guarded over regional pay bargaining

2012-03-17T06:16:52-04:00

Harriet Harman signals mild opposition to regional pay bargaining, saying it could lead to neighbouring NHS trusts "competiting" with each other. But her comments were fairly guarded - by no means a barnstorming rejection.

How the papers covered the Regional Pay leak...

2012-03-17T06:16:21-04:00

The Telegraph says "Millions to lose rights to national pay rates in Osborne's budget":

The move is likely to be met with a furious response from unions, which are already threatening industrial action over cuts to pensions. The Chancellor will publish figures that show that in some parts of England and Wales public sector workers earn almost a fifth more than those in equivalent jobs in the private sector.

(It already has angered the unions - their response can be found in this HuffPo story) The BBC puts it like this:

Workers in poorer parts of Britain should have their pay frozen until it falls in line with the private sector, Chancellor George Osborne is expected to announce in Wednesday's Budget. He is due to reveal plans to scrap national pay rates for workers such as teachers, nurses and civil servants. The Treasury says public sector wages in England and Wales are, on average, 8% higher than in the private sector. Unions have criticised the plans, which they say will drive down regional pay

Sky News says:

Regional pay rates for up to 140,000 civil servants could be brought in as early as next month, it has been reported. The move would see a teacher in Sunderland earning less than a colleague in Surrey, where bills are generally higher.

Sky reporting that FSA chief Hector Sants to quit later year

2012-03-16T06:48:24-04:00

It's not just the Archbishop of Canterbury who's quitting this morning. The departure of Sants is rather a blow for Osborne ahead of the budget if and when it's confirmed. Sants was charged with helping to reorganise the governance of the City and the banking industry - shifting many of the FSA's powers to the Bank of England. Sky says it's a 'purely personal decision that's been accepted reluctantly by the Treasury'.

Support for the Mansion Tax... from a Tory?!

2012-03-16T06:31:18-04:00

William Green, political editor at the Newcastle Journal, reports that Hexham MP Guy Opperman is in favour of a mansion tax. He says: "If you're buying a house worth £4 or £5m then I really think it's fair to ask you to pay a bit more in the country's coffers when you sell it." Opperman is a member of the 301 Group, a Cameroon subset of Tory backbenchers who want to see the party modernise itself.

The Economist favours cutting 50p but thinks Osborne will balk at it

2012-03-16T06:12:10-04:00

Clearly written before the rumours of the cut began to circulate, the Economist says today in its leader on the Budget:

Cutting the top rate of personal income tax from 50% would encourage entrepreneurs to make Britain their home. It will be hard for Mr Osborne to do this in a year when welfare spending is being squeezed. He could, however, make further progress on lowering the rate of tax on corporate profits, which is set to fall to 23% by 2014-15. A further one-percentage-point reduction would cost around £800m a year and send a signal that Britain is a competitive place to invest and do business.

'Wild speculation' that 50p is going to go - Maybe 45p instead?

2012-03-16T06:03:15-04:00

The Telegraph says it's heard from Treasury sources who dismiss as "wild speculation" reports that the 50p tax cut has already been agreed to. The paper reports:

Senior Conservatives are committed to scrapping the 50p rate eventually, but have not yet decided if now is the right time for what would be highly controversial move for their party. Despite mounting economic arguments against the 50p rate, some Conservatives feel that scrapping the rate at a time of rising unemployment and falling household incomes would be a political mistake, allowing Labour to paint the Tories as the party of the rich. One compromise which has been suggested is to reduce the rate to 45p.

Will 50p tax dominate the Budget? @timmontgomerie worries it will

2012-03-16T06:01:11-04:00

@ TimMontgomerie : Further to last tweet if the post-Budget headlines are about 50p then Tories have a political problem

An alternative to cutting fuel duty?

2012-03-15T17:55:12-04:00

Reports tonight that David Cameron says it's "worth looking at" opening up global oil reserves to bring down the price of petrol. The Press Association quotes the PM as saying that, by comparison with US forecourts, petrol prices in the UK "would probably make you faint". But he accepted that the continuing high price of fuel was holding back both economies, and said he wanted to do something to help consumers. Answering questions from students, the Prime Minister said: "President Obama and I discussed this issue yesterday. Obviously, petrol prices are having a big effect on families, there's no doubt about it. "It does have a big effect on consumer confidence, it affects household budgets. We would both like to see global oil prices lower than they are today.

Guardian: Osborne 'poised' to slash 50p tax

2012-03-15T17:44:15-04:00

The Guardian's top story on Friday morning is a report that Osborne will slash the top rate of tax from 50p to 40p in the Budget next week. It comes as the Treasury will apparently confirm a long-held belief among Tories that the top band isn't raising anything like what was expected - millions, rather than billions, according to the Guardian. This isn't a final decision, though - that won't be made until Friday at the earliest, once Cameron is back from his trip to the US. David Cameron is due back in Britain on Friday morning, and nailing down the final version of the Budget along with the rest of "The Quad" - Danny Alexander, George Osborne and Nick Clegg - will be top on his to-do list.

The Treasury's video of a history of the Budget

2012-03-15T08:14:49-04:00

The Treasury's 2012 Budget pages have gone live, and while there's not much there at the moment, there is this quite nice video on previous statements from bygone chancellors. HuffPost likes the music!

Another attack on Osborne going to Washington

2012-03-15T07:23:32-04:00

Iain Martin in the Telegraph has become the second columnist on the paper to get annoyed about the Chancellor's trip to DC:

Shouldn't Osborne be in the Treasury or Number 11 burning a little midnight oil? This is possibly his last chance to produce a big reforming Budget ahead of the next election. Reforms take a while to settle down and improve growth prospects. Being on the end of a phone thousands of miles away is not the same as being in command on the bridge. The Tories are lucky that Labour doesn't seem to have noticed this.

Budget policy paper from Progress

2012-03-15T06:56:51-04:00

Is Labour prepared for another highly political budget from George Osborne? This is the subject of a policy paper published by Progress on Thursday morning. They ask:

Don’t expect this to be a budget of growth, jobs, skills, training and the transition to a post-carbon economy. Instead, it will have the simple aim of killing the Labour party. Osborne knows that if the economy is showing signs of recovery, the Tories’ pitch in 2015 will be: Britain’s getting better, don’t let Labour ruin it. If the economy is in recession, the pitch will be: Labour caused the recession, they can’t get Britain out of it. Either way, the Tories’ key wedge issue with Labour will be the economic record of the last Labour government, and the need for cuts. Ed Miliband’s speech at the Oxo Tower in January was perhaps the most important he has made to date. It contained the vital insight that if Labour is elected with a majority in 2015 (unlikely on current opinion polling), then a Labour chancellor will have to continue the programme of cuts to public expenditure. Miliband made the point that the Brown-Blair era of rising public expenditure, paid for by economic growth, is over. Labour’s task, therefore, is to prove that Britain can be better without higher public spending: through reform and modernisation, not tax and spend. Miliband’s attempts to map out the alternative is a harder sell than ‘more teachers and nurses’. Notions of fairness at the top and bottom of society, responsible capitalism, and taking on vested interests, play well in Toynbee-land. But in the real world, where the ‘squeezed middle’ have just cancelled their summer holidays and blame Gordon Brown for it, it has little appeal.

HuffPost UK's Big Budget News Page

2012-03-15T06:09:45-04:00

Every story and blog on the budget so far that we've published can be found here.

Peter Oborne in the Telegraph - What's Osborne doing in Washington?

2012-03-15T05:57:59-04:00

Maybe Danny Alexander is steering the Budget through its final stages of preparation, but Oborne - in a wide ranging critique of Cameron and Obama - also points out that Osborne is in Washington and asks:

"Why Mr Cameron has brought the Chancellor of the Exchequer with him on this trip to the White House, on the eve of one of the most important Budget statements for decades, one that will further drain the finances of middle Britain, is inexplicable."

2012-03-15T05:55:30-04:00

@ iainmartin1 : V good point by Peter Oborne in the Telegraph. Why on earth has Cameron taken Osborne on US jaunt. Shouldn't he be working on his budget?

2012-03-15T02:23:48-04:00

@ alexforrestitv : Danny Alexander says Fitch putting UK on negative outlook is reason why should stick the course - so no big giveaways in next week's budget.

The FT finds critics of the 100 year bond plan

2012-03-15T02:20:41-04:00

Osborne wants to lengthen government bonds (loans in all but name) from their current 50 year period to 100 years. It was leaked to the Times on Wednesday morning and upset a few MPs who feared the whole Budget would end up being leaked before next Wednesday. Anyway the FT hears from critics from the scheme on Thursday morning. Joanne Segars, chief executive of the National Association of Pension Funds, tells the FT: “My members would not want such long bonds. They need inflation-linked products of maturities between 30 years and 50 years as most pensions are now closed to new people.”

Is Fitch warning against an "Ed Balls" approach?

2012-03-15T02:17:38-04:00

The Times picks up on a line in Fitch's statement:

“Discretionary fiscal easing that resulted in government debt peaking later and higher than currently forecast.”

And reports that the Tories are saying this hints that any slacking off of the cuts programme - as called for by Labour - would trigger a downgrade.

A reminder of what Osborne said last time there was a negative watch alert...

2012-03-15T02:10:14-04:00

Service Personnel top brass call for Osborne to help troops

2012-03-15T02:00:19-04:00

There's an open letter in the Sun on Thursday morning from former defence chiefs, asking the Chancellor to reverse a "real terms pay cut" among front-line service personnel. They write:

“While the nation is asking many of its military to face great danger in Afghanistan and other areas around the world, we do not believe this is just. We are also concerned about the effect a real-terms pay cut will have on the morale of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, who are already under great financial strain. We found this decision particularly inappropriate when coming at the same time as the announcement that welfare benefit payments will this year see a 5.2% increase.”

They want Osborne to "correct" this error, and return pay matters to the independent Armed Forces Pay Review Body. The letter’s signatories are:

Lord Guthrie, Lord Boyce and Lord Craig - all former chiefs of the Defence Staff
Lord Dannatt - Better known as Richard Dannatt, former head of the Army
ex-First Sea Lord Lord West - a former minister in the Gordon Brown government
and former RAF chief Sir Peter Squire.

Bad timing for Osborne?

2012-03-15T01:55:07-04:00

@ ITVLauraK : Fitch putting UK on negative watch is embarassing for Osborne on day they suggested UK debt was so attractive people wd want 100 year bonds

Mothers Union boss calls on PM to 'urgently reconsider' child benefit cuts

2012-03-15T01:53:06-04:00

The Telegraph reported on Thursday morning that Reg Bailey has signed an open letter to the PM saying:

“In 2010, you undertook not to change child benefit. But the clawback of child benefit from households with a higher rate taxpayer represents a significant change, and should be urgently reconsidered,” “As leader of the Opposition, you said that you wanted the next government to be the most family friendly government we have ever had, we therefore strongly urge you to lift the three-year freeze of child benefit, and to reverse the proposed clawback of child benefit from households with a higher rate taxpayer.”

Willie Walsh : "Warm words and cold action on growth"

2012-03-15T01:50:50-04:00

A fairly damning speech from the BA boss on Thursday. According to the Guardian Walsh will say the following to the British Chambers of Commerce:

"Under this government, we have seen the Strategy for Sustainable Growth, The Path to Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth and The Plan for Growth. The last government had a strategy every second week and a plan every third week. "But none of them really added up to anything … they all have the same obvious 'wouldn't it be nice to have?' list of ambitions, such as competitive tax systems, good environments to start a business or encourage exports." "If you're interested in doing business in Guangzhou or Shenyang – and you will be – then I advise you to start out from Frankfurt rather than London. I don't like giving that message. It's ominous, I know. But it's true."

Timely reminder - another agency puts UK on negative growth watch

2012-03-15T01:20:43-04:00

The HuffPost story in full is here.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said the move by Fitch was a "salutary reminder" of the debt problems facing the country and the need for continued austerity measures. Fitch indicated that it felt it was more likely than not that Britain would lose its coveted top rating given its highly limited ability to absorb any further shocks from the crisis across Europe. It is the second of the major agencies to issue such a caution, following Moody's last month.

Chancellor 'seriously considering' Tycoon Tax

2012-03-15T01:19:41-04:00

Andrew Grice at the Independent writes:

Mr Clegg floated the idea of a "tycoon tax" at the weekend but it appeared to have been shot down by critics in his own party and scepticism at the Treasury. However, the issue was discussed on Monday by the Coalition's key decision-making body, the Quad: Mr Cameron, Mr Osborne, Mr Clegg and Danny Alexander. "A minimum tax rate is still on the table," one Whitehall source said yesterday. Mr Clegg is said by colleagues to be confident of seeing some progress on his idea in the Budget. One option is for Mr Osborne to announce a study into whether a "tycoon tax" would work in Britain. But Mr Clegg is pressing the Chancellor to go further – for example, by announcing his backing for the idea in principle so that it could be introduced next year or the year after.

NIESR Calls for infastructure spending

2012-03-14T13:12:02-04:00

Jonathan Portes from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research argues in this article for Guardian Comment Is Free that there should be some form of stimulus:

"With long-term interest rates at historic lows, there has never been a better time to invest in Britain's creaking infrastructure. In the spending review, capital spending – as always – suffered most, with many projects assessed as having long-term benefits cancelled. All the Treasury needs to do is take them down off the shelf."

50p cut 'Unlikely'

2012-03-14T13:05:16-04:00

Here Tony Harris of IFAs ContractorMoney explains why he thinks the 50p tax rate is 'unlikely to be changed':

This is the hottest of political hot potatoes and whilst business leaders worry that the 50% rate sends the signal that Britain is no place for the worlds business elite (or even for Arsenal FC’s Andrey Arshavin, who famously said that he wouldn’t have accepted a job in the Premiership if he’d known about the 50% tax rate), in the spirit of Banker bashing, George Osborne’s Liberal Democrat coalition partners will still not want to look soft on higher earners.

What Car Magazine not convinced fuel duty will fall

2012-03-14T13:00:54-04:00

In their preview of the 2012 Budget, the magazine takes in the views of experts in the car industry - they've judged the mood music coming from the Treasury and think it points away from a petrol duty cut. . PricewaterhouseCoopers' tax expert Alex Henderson tells them: 'We think a reduction in fuel duty is unlikely because reductions are more likely elsewhere in the Budget.'

100 year bonds - a new "Osborne loan"?

2012-03-14T10:27:29-04:00

Reports have emerged today that the government is considering reviving an idea from the First World War in order to secure an economic recovery. Chancellor George Osborne is said to be considering issuing long-term loans, that would not be paid back until the next century. This plan would take advantage of Britain's current low-interest rates, allowing it to borrow with especially favourable terms. Will it make it out as an offiical proposal? The Telegraph's Jeremy Warner is scathing: "From the Treasury's point of view, it makes perfect sense to try and refinance the ever-growing national debt at today's record low interest rates. Mr Osborne talks of "locking in the benefits of Britain's safe haven status" for future generations. But from the investors' point of view it makes no sense whatsoever and if it ever comes to pass, I can guarantee it will eventually be seen as one of the most colossal cases of mis-selling ever seen in the UK – and there have been quite a few." Despite this, it could make for a daring proposal. It is simply a question of whether it is sensible long-term planning or hubris.

Mansion Tax - Vince Cable's pet project

2012-03-14T09:47:45-04:00

The Mansion tax was proposed by Vince Cable a few years ago, and now he is Business Secretary - he is ideally placed for pushing it. He originally proposed it at the LibDem conference of 2009. However, he came under fire for it - as he suggested people with homes worth more than £1m should have to pay more. The tax would make the system "fairer", according to Cable. Now with the coalition, Cable has updated his plan so it would affect people whose homes are worth more than £2m. Prospects for the mansion tax have been hit by Nick Clegg's own admission that it'd hit those in the capital and the South hardest. Norman Tebbit has voiced concerns about the mansion tax. Communities secretary Eric Pickles has taken a more direct intervention to try and stop the mansion tax. It emerged recently that his department deleted a database of information on homes that would be vital for assessing where the mansion tax would hit. Officials have estimated that it would delay the implementation of the mansion tax for years. So Pickles' intervention has thrown a spanner into the works for those wanting a mansion tax. However, under LibDem pressure, it is still on the negotiating table. With Ed Balls' support for the idea, it remains to be seen if that will help or not.

What about the Tycoon tax?

2012-03-14T09:46:53-04:00

"The only person in the party who's against the tycoon tax is one of our own tycoons" Nick Clegg joked last week to LibDems at his party's conference in Gateshead. Now the Chancellor is said to be supportive of the idea too, it is a real possibility. Last week, Nick Clegg revealed the new big idea for the upcoming budget - the Tycoon Tax. Mooted as the pre-condition for LibDem support for abolishing the 50p tax rate, the Tycoon tax would affect those earning millions so they "pay their fair share in society". The "tycoons" would have to pay a minimum of 20% on their total annual earnings. Michael Fallon, Conservative Deputy Chair, expressed doubt on whether the tycoon tax could work. He said: "I would be very surprised [if it worked]. Very few other countries have what is called a tycoon tax." Former LibDem Treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott attacked the plan as a "superficially attractive measure that falls apart under scrutiny". Other LibDems like Business Secretary Vince Cable have been said to oppose the tycoon tax - worrying that it would dilute the idea of a mansion tax.

50p tax - will it be shelved?

2012-03-14T09:23:00-04:00

After its introduction under Gordon Brown, Tories have called for its abolition. The Prime Minister himself pledged to scrap the 50p tax rate, but was restrained by LibDem pressure. Last year, Chancellor George Osborne announced a review into the 50p tax rate and promised to scrap it if the review found that it didn't make money for the Exchequer. That did not stop people clamouring for it to go. VInce Cable seemed open to allowing it, if the Conservatives backed plans for a mansion tax. A few weeks ago, over 500 business owners wrote in to the Telegraph to support scrapping the rate, saying it put wealth creators in an "awkward position". This week, Ed Miliband renewed his call to keep the 50p tax rate, in order to keep pressure on the rich. But yesterday, leading business-men Richard Branson and Sir Terry Leahy added their voices to the movement for scrapping the 50p tax rate.