Budget
Just cutting spending isn’t enough. Osborne needs to invest as well
Economic growth for the next year is predicted to be lower than 1.0%. I can’t think, offhand, or a more obvious indication that the Chancellor is gripped by some sort… Continue reading
55 Comments
Budget 2013: Osborne’s empty budget
This was, as I suspected, an empty budget. There was the usual whale spray of policies: a penny off beer duty here, petrol tax reduced there. Nowadays, we don’t have… Continue reading
31 Comments
Why the confusion between debt and deficit?
Polls show that, depending on how you ask the question, just between 8pc and 12pc of us realize that debt is rising. It’s not hard to work out why: first,… Continue reading
35 Comments
Forget 50p — scrap the 60p tax rate
Imagine if a Chancellor stood up and announced that those earning up to £100,000 would pay a 40p tax rate, those earning £100,000 to £112,950 will pay a 60p rate,… Continue reading
20 Comments
MPs get last chance to push Osborne on Budget
It’s the last Treasury questions before the Budget today, and MPs will have a final chance to push the Chancellor on what it is that they want from the Budget.… Continue reading
57 Comments
Cable and Fox tug at the Coalition’s centre
The leaders of both coalition parties are seeing ministerial colleagues and backbenchers trying to push them further way from the centre at present. Nick Clegg has Vince Cable continuing to… Continue reading
23 Comments
George Osborne’s only plan is to pray for recovery
What sort of Budget will George Osborne unveil on 20 March? In this week’s Spectator, Fraser Nelson predicts that it will be an empty one, devoid of radicalism. The piece… Continue reading
77 Comments
Revolting, Panic-Stricken Tories are doing Ed Miliband's job for him
Panic, once let loose, is hard to corral. And there seems to be plenty of panic on the Tory benches at Westminster. The Eastleigh by-election result, the stagnant economy and… Continue reading
16 Comments Tinkering with tax isn’t enough
Should the 10p tax rate be brought back? Should the top rate be higher, or lower? Can the personal allowance be raised further? Is a mansion tax a good idea?… Continue reading
65 Comments
The Tory 2015 message: times are tough, but they’d be worse under Labour
Today’s PMQs was not, as James says, a tricky one for David Cameron. He had some good jokes and embarrassing gossip to poke Ed Miliband with, even though the Labour… Continue reading
48 Comments
Briefing: Another fuel duty freeze?
It looks like George Osborne will put the planned fuel duty rise on hold again, in order to avoid another Tory rebellion and potential government defeat in the Commons. This… Continue reading
21 Comments
Treasury: We did not leak the Budget
It’s easy to forget that the Budget took place five long months ago when it is still being unpicked and argued over now. The Treasury Select Committee published the responses… Continue reading
5 Comments
Osborne’s falling star
It’s tempting to see comedy in the government’s 30th U-Turn, but there’s a more serious side to this. It fits a pattern: act first, think later. The lack of special… Continue reading
46 Comments
A good day to…
While Jeremy Hunt was casting about, trying to save his political life at the Leveson Inquiry, the Treasury issued its latest u-turn: the expected volte face on charitable giving. Interestingly,… Continue reading
23 Comments
So let’s get this straight…
After today’s VAT changes: a) If you walked into a pasty shop and bought a pasty that has been kept hot in a cabinet (or in foil, or on a… Continue reading
33 Comments
The coalition rows back on the Budget’s VAT changes
No government likes to u-turn, and particularly not on a Budget measure. So, tonight’s changes to the VAT regime proposed by the Budget for Cornish pasties and static caravans are… Continue reading
42 Comments
Balls goes on the attack over tax credits
After all the commotion about various policies in last month’s Budget, the focus this morning has shifted to measures announced back in 2010. Why? Because they take effect tomorrow. So… Continue reading
8 Comments
The Lib Dems will relish a scrap over civil liberties
They’re languishing in the polls, their leader is considerably more unpopular than either David Cameron or Ed Miliband, they face a difficult set of local elections in May — and… Continue reading
26 Comments
The politics of pasties
The row over the so-called pasty tax is a proxy. It is really a row about whether David Cameron and George Osborne get what it is like to worry about… Continue reading
65 Comments
Revealed: the grey recovery
Are pensioners doing their bit for the recovery? The agenda of ‘intergenerational fairness’ has arisen in response to the idea that they are not, and ought to be taxed more.… Continue reading
20 Comments