Chris Mason: A change-making Budget and a moment of jeopardy


The UK government has presented a Budget with tax rises, changes to borrowing rules and NHS spending. Labour’s worldview is evident throughout, despite its conflicting promises not to raise taxes. The party has adopted a closer stance to the Conservatives regarding tax and spending to avoid spooking swing voters and losing elections. The chancellor’s mitigating plea for the recent budget is that “the books were worse than we thought”. Nonetheless, there is real anger among farmers about changes to inheritance tax. Farmers worry they will no longer be able to pass on their lifetime work and business to the next generation.

The budget is a testing point for the chancellor. All the big issues regarding taxes, borrowing and spending will come under extra scrutiny as the public, trade unions, policy experts and journalists scrutinise the details. Senior figures reassure the public they embrace the scrutiny. Instead of the traditional question-dodging practice, the chancellor has given more transparency to the budget by appearing on TV and radio.

The UK government’s central mission is to drive economic growth but growth predictions remain anaemic and growth in per capita disposable income is still poor, despite a slight increase. Many economists believe this lack of growth influences the public’s anti-political mood and political volatility. The financial reality remains true for many years, and its persistency will have a marked effect on millions of people and the fate of the government over other budget numbers being scrutinised.

In conclusion, while this Labourista worldview has taken effect, it remains to be seen how accurately the Budget’s critical aspects, including borrowing, spending and taxes, have been executed. Ultimately, the fate of the government’s strategy will lie with whether economic growth and disposable incomes improve at all

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