Budget date set for 24th March
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8559268.stm

What are we going to get I wonder? A serious attempt to reign in spending, increase the tax take and reduce the debt or the usual pre-election option to delay the really bad news until after we've had our say at the polls?..

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

The usual suspects will be taxed even more I suspect, no real giveaways, perhaps freezes in benefits... I don't think they'll be able to buy many votes, but could try to screw us all prior to a change in government.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

We have a winner.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Tax Breaks for Computer Workers!

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

My guess is the PM will call a election for may 6th a week or so after budget day

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Obviously we won't see anything too unpleasant as it wouldn't be politically wise. The thing I'm interested in is if there'll be some attempts at bribing us.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

It'll be appalling if there are but I wouldn't be surprised if they put their political welfare before the country's financial welfare..

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Wouldn't be the first time a government has done that, and certainly wouldn't be the first time this one has.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I had a massive argument yesterday on gaydar with a guy who was touting for votes as he works for the conservatives and claimed "Margret Thatcher and Thatcherism was the best thing that ever happened in the UK". What planet was he living on!!

I reckon they will raise taxes, and there is speculation VAT will rise to 20% and heavier taxes on food.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Neither of us are old enough to really remember it from first hand experience but I've no doubt you'll have had drummed into you how evil Thatcher killed the mining industry and destroyed Wales. Mining wasn't paying its' way anymore, it was cheaper to import the stuff.

Regrettably a lot of the nastier things she did had to be done else we'd be even worse of a socialist state with even higher taxes, even more public sector employees striking and an even more bloated public sector draining the private sector dry and getting the country into financial strife.

Prior to her policies growth was tepid and inflation was ridiculous and fuelled by QE-like Labour printing of money and ridiculous wage increases being handed out.

The tax take from the rich actually went up under Thatcher for the simple reason more top rate tax people paid more tax - there's a curve for tax rate versus tax take and when the rate goes too high the take goes down due to tax avoidance.

The nasty party were nasty for a reason - the 'nicer' Labour party have constantly written cheques they can't cover and it ends up with the nasty party having to get nasty simply to pay the Labour overdraft.

Labour Harold Wilson 1974-1976
Labour Jim Callaghan 1976-1979

Conservative Margaret Thatcher 1979-1983
Conservative Margaret Thatcher 1983-1987

Inflation:

1987 4.2%
1986 3.4%
1985 6.1%
1984 5.0%
1983 4.6%
1982 8.6%
1981 11.9%
1980 18.0%
1979 13.4%
1978 8.3%
1977 15.8%
1976 16.5%
1975 24.2%
1974 16.0%

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I predict they'll make this budget one of the worse on record, because they seriously don't want to be voted back in. I also think that the Conservatives don't want to be handed the reins either.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I agree, Labour have dropped the country into a pile of do do that even by their own spin they cant climb out of and then leaving the mess to be wiped up by the next gov if at all they can. Were sunk as a country would the last one to leave switch the lights off pls.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I think you need to go out and buy a new calendar, mine has a whole month of April in it ;)

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I had to read it twice - I think he meant that the election will be called for 6th May, and Parliament dissolved a week or so after the budget :)

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

With the explosion of postal voting, any election campaign is effectively over when the forms arrive and then Labour Party MP's and officials 'help' you to fill the form out.:rolleyes:

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

How exactly is that bit of wild speculation related to the topic at hand?

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Wild speculation? She admitted it!

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Who's 'she', and what did she admit and how does it relate to the topic at hand?

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

IIRC Margaret Beckett. It's difficult to track down a link as there is nothing specific to narrow it down. She and other Labour party officials visited homes in order to ''help' people with their postal voting forms. She claimed that she thought that she wasn't doing anything wrong.:rolleyes:

The issue was raised of an election date and I was pointing out that the length of any election campaign is now greatly shortened.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Ah right! Just the usual sort of budget we get every year then. :dozey:

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Phew!!! There are going to be savings, reductions and reorganisations but no 'cuts'..... :rolleyes:

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Live link to the announcements for anyone not able to see it any other way.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/f...2010-live.html

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

What a total and utter pantomime this is. Why are they wasting millions on drawing this up, printing it, even switching the lights on in the commons debating chamber, when it's all going to be torn up in a matter of weeks anyway?

The only useful thing that could possibly have been announced today is the date of the general election.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Brown and Darling have made a lot of fuss about how their prompt action with the banks had ensured nobody lost their savings. Well we may not have lost savings directly but we're all about to find out just how much their ineptitude has cost us and this budget is just the beginning. Savers and taxpayers especially are going to be paying a very hefty price for the lack of effective financial controls and for a very long time.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

So no Election Bribes then?

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

£4 extra a week for any mum with a 1 or 2 year old baby... married, single or cohabitting... I predict a chav population explosion!

They'll just give it back as Cider Tax though... a smart move by the badger.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I'm hoping my son who is in the process of buying his first home will benefit from the change in stamp duty. Nothing much else brings a smile to my face.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Let's hope not. Mind you I wouldn't be surprised by anything they do tbh.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Unless he's found some old Embassy coupons in the back of a drawer I don't think he's got anything to bribe us with. ;)

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Apparently they're going after tax avoiders too - now unless I've got my terminology mixed up I thought tax avoidance was legal, whereas tax evasion is the crime?

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Correction - "I don't think we've got anything left to bribe us with" ;)

---------- Post added at 14:27 ---------- Previous post was at 14:24 ----------

Times are tough and it doesn't need to be a crime for them to want to get hold of the money. I doubt they'll be any more effective than they've been in the last 13 years, however.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

How much would It really cost to buy as all Amazon vouchers, a pint, and some ice cream?

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

You mean they've been our embassy coupons all along:shocked: That no good *(&^(&**. I could have had that teasmade after all. :D

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

:) I wouldn't be surprised if Darling and Brown routinely searched down the back of sofa cushions for loose change... ;)

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I wonder if they will chase up those who avoided Capital Gains by changing the designation of their homes from second to main when they sold them?

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

couldn't agree more :clap:

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Well one thing I am happy with is the stamp duty as I am buying a house this year for 175,000, so thats good, just did a calculation on the budget and I am goingg to £77 worse off a month

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Thats the thing though, whilst im really pleased for the first time buyers (I was there myself only a couple of years ago), two things annoy me....

1) Where is the first time buyer who can afford £250K ? or get a mortgage for that amount!
2) Why just first time buyers? We are stepping up from a sub 100K house to around £135K, that extra £1300 would have been really handy in our pockets
Why could it be no stamp duty for everyone

Oh well

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

My son is buying his first house at the moment and will be £1500 better off as a result of this budget which is great but the stamp duty isn't really the stumbling block for most people in his position.

He is one of the lucky ones who has had a Bank of Mum and Dad to help him with the deposit which is, I am sure, what stops most first time buyers getting their first home rather than the stamp duty. I would have liked to see something done in this area as well.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Couldn't agree more Jo, not everyone is quite so lucky to have parents who are in a position to help them out with a deposit. My 10% was saved up with bloody hard word and scraping by on a pittance. I'm not saying make it easy, but finding 5-10% is ALOT easier than having to find 20% and would get the market moving again.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

i don't know if this is the right thread but 10% ON CIDER! thats barbaric..

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

i thought that meant they where putting 10% more in the bottle:shocked:

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

i wouldn't mind paying 10% more if they did that :D, in about 15 years its gonna be £10 for a 2ltr bottle!... well i hope not lol.

So how much will it be for a pint of strongbow now?

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Well so far I've heard a lot from New Labour about the tax increases on the middle-well off but precious little in recognition of the additional taxes the poor will be paying as a result of the frozen allowances. You'd expect that, of course - they'd hardly start wanting to tell the truth just before the election. The bad news, if they ever get to grips with accepting it, is going to come in the budget following the election. Darling keeps saying 'the wealthy will need to pay more' and I have no problem with that. What he refuses to admit, however, is that the less well off will have to pay a lot more too in one way or another but, typically, he's going to keep that as quiet as he can until the election's over. Wouldn't want the electorate we rely on for power to be able to vote on our plans would we??..... :mad:

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I bet that won't stop the explosion of outrage and derision from the Labour camp when the Conservatives, if they are elected, give their first Budget containing the needed spending cuts though.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

So now it's Thatchers fault as her cuts were not savage enough...

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

That's a bit like a shop announcing a special offer of 10% off, only weeks after raising the price of the product by 20%.:rolleyes:

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I get the distinct feeling that Darling knows his time in no. 11 is up even IF New Labour win the election...

And there was Brown telling us all, ad nauseam, that he'd 'broken the cycle of boom and bust'.. :mad:

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

well he's certainly broken the boom -and in his defense bust is up 200%

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

:D:D

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

That's standard practice in a lot of sofa/furniture/carpet places ...

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

So that's what "DFS" stands for - Darling's Financial Services.....:D

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I thought there are restrictions on that practice. IIRC it has to have been priced higher for a set amount of time before they can call the reduction a reduction?

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I believe the item has to have been at the higher price for 28 consecutive days within the last six months, but not necessarily at the branch displaying the 'sale' price.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Well New Labour aren't exactly novices in the art of sharp practice are they.... :D

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I think your average slimy sofa salesman could learn a thing or two from Gordo and his Darling.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

BTW way are all those rose tinted, dyed in the wool, New Labour apologists when you really need them for a damned good laugh??.... :D

I'd have thought they'd at least want to comment on how their beloved party has brought us to a situation in which (if they win the election) they admit they're going to have to wield the axe more than Thatcher did (again as a result of Labour 'management of the economy'). They've spent years berating her for having to put right their wrongs but I don't expect them to be short on excuses for their own failings and any cuts they're forced to make.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

I think you'll find that there has also been a global economic crisis that largely originated in the US, and that in all likelihood is going to force a substantial number of other governments to make similar cuts.

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

....and who set up and presided over the regulatory aspects of our banking system during the time the credit bubble inflated, all the time boasting about having broken the cycle of boom and bust??..

The fact that some other governments were as inept as ours doesn't excuse Brown's ineptitude or make me feel that much better tbh... ;)

Re: Budget date set for 24th March
 

Meanwhile, on the subject of the budget, here's a view from someone who knows what it's like to have to set one in the shadow of a forthcoming election:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...cle7073218.ece