Words from Westminster - Budget Day and another missed opportunity
March 23, 2007 3:42 PM
Wednesday 21st March was Budget Day. It is always an eventful day in Westminster with much press speculation and Members filling the benches in the House in anticipation. For Chancellor Gordon Brown it was the eleventh and probably final time that he would wield the red Treasury box and deliver the annual budget speech.
Once his time was up at the despatch box it was the proposed tax cut that stood out. On first glance, the Chancellor's plan to cut the basic rate of income tax by two pence is a welcome gesture. Indeed it is one that my colleagues and I have long been calling for. However, it cleverly conceals the abolition of the ten pence starter rate and changes in the National Insurance rate. As a result, those who earn less than £15,000 a year will be worse off than before and those entering the labour and property markets for the first time will bear the brunt.
In effect the Chancellor had missed this opportunity to make a difference and redress the significant and growing disparity that still exists between the rich and the poor. Indeed, this gulf is now wider than it was under Margaret Thatcher. Serious tax cuts for the lower and middle income earners would have been far more welcome and effective in solving this problem.
In other areas, the budget was also not good enough. Pensioners will still face a raw deal, vulnerable people will not be better off and the Government is a long way from meeting its target of 2010 to eradicate child poverty, as problems remain with the tax credits system. The Government's persistent tinkering repeatedly fails to get to the heart of these issues.
Furthermore, the Chancellor didn't match the party's infamous commitment to education and the proposals he made still show a funding shortfall and fail to have any great impact on today's children. The environment also received little comfort from the Chancellor's proposals. Far from being bold, they were half-hearted attempts which will do little to address the key climate change concerns that we face today.
In all, the budget seemed to be giving with one hand while taking with the other. Unfortunately, the effects of this will no doubt be keenly felt by many in North Devon.
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