Friday 18th March

So, after all the hype, after all the Media build-up – there was nothing.  Just an announcement that there would be a “sugar-tax” in two years time, just enough time for the big soft-drink manufacturers to re-formulate and replace corn syrup (possibly even more dangerous) for sugar.  And as ever with this Chancellor, details are to follow, so we don’t even know how effective it might actually be.  No real attempt to simplify the massively complicated tax rules, or to clamp down on tax evasion and avoidance, or to close tax havens.  Oh well, what did we expect?

And George has given us all a nice increase in our tax threshold, especially those nice people lucky enough to pay tax at the higher rate.  This of course does nothing to help those on minimum wage, and most low paid workers will have the saving taken straight out of any tax credits they might receive.

It was in fact a catalogue of failure.  Six years ago Osborne proudly declared that he would eradicate the deficit by 2015 and despite savage cuts he barely halved it.  Now he declares he will run a surplus in 2020, even though the Office for Budget Responsibility says he has and will consistently miss his deficit reduction and overall debt targets every year until then.  It just doesn’t add up, and I can only assume that the OBR has been leaned on to present the rosiest of possible scenarios.  I suspect that George will come up with some wheeze to re-classify some Public Spending as Capital Projects and exclude them from borrowing figures (co-incidentally when Labour proposed borrowing to spend on Infrastructure this was rubbished by the Tories).

And the cuts continue; both to Spending and more crucially to Taxation.  In the Eighties when taxes were cut the tax revenue actually increased as there was an explosion in Financial Services, but so far every time George cuts taxes the take decreases too so he is then forced to both borrow more and plan more cuts to Public Services.  J. K. Galbraith said that Economic Policy was like pulling a brick along a table, for ages nothing happens then the brick hits you in the face.  Keep tugging George.

I thought actually that Jeremy Corbyn gave a very good response; it is a very hard job to respond to a Budget you know nothing about beforehand.

But this was a wasted and a very cautious Budget; we mustn’t scare the voters before the Referendum now must we?