http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/budget2008/ en Copyright 2008 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Britain's most effective pressure group appears at first glance to be... the Conservative Party. Want cuts in inheritance tax? They call for it. The government does it. Want a tax on non-doms? They unveil plans then so does the government.... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/spending_before.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/spending_before.html Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:34:37 +0000 The man was the message. Alistair Darling, the chancellor mocked for being dull and grey and lacking charisma delivered a Budget which was, well, a wee bit dull and grey and lacking anything very much to get political pulses racing.... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/dull_and_grey.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/dull_and_grey.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:32:56 +0000 A little noticed announcement in the Budget today indicated that all long-term recipients of incapacity benefit will have to undergo new tougher medical tests - called work capability assessments. The tests are designed to ensure that more IB claimants return... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/benefit_tests.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/benefit_tests.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:35:10 +0000 The slogan for the Budget - you mustn't grumble, it's not too bad. Sure, the next year or two is not what we thought it'd be, but it's not all permanent damage to the economy we're facing. In other words,... Evan Davis (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2008/03/chancing_it.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2008/03/chancing_it.html Small Change Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:25:31 +0000 So here are a few of the messages from Alistair Darling's first budget. 1) Don't be a four-wheel driving, cigarette-smoking, non-domiciled, boozer. Life is becoming much more expensive for you. Perhaps it's time to move to Switzerland, where at least... Robert Peston (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/03/little_margin_for_error.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/03/little_margin_for_error.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:10:59 +0000 I was wrong an hour ago, to say the Golden Rule measure of borrowing was looking better than it had been in 2012. Sorry, bit rushed. Looking at the data, the chancellor is conceding that by 2011, the economy will... Evan Davis (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2008/03/shrinking_economy.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2008/03/shrinking_economy.html Small Change Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:38:16 +0000 The Treasury is raising £550m in 2010-11 – which is not trivial – by removing the biofuels duty differential. That sounds like a fairly major policy shift away from promoting biofuels. On the changes to Vehicle Excise Duty, to extract... Robert Peston (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/03/shift_away_from_biofuels.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/03/shift_away_from_biofuels.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:32:19 +0000 If you're a binge drinker you've got one more weekend to do it before it hurts your wallet as well as your liver. Beer's up 4p a pint, wine 14p a bottle and spirits 55p but not till this Sunday.... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/financial_hango.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/financial_hango.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:29:12 +0000 The chancellor’s announced not a tax on plastic bags but the threat of a new law which could force supermarkets to charge for them if they don't do enough to cut their use. We don't need to wait for the... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/daily_mail_vict.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/daily_mail_vict.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:21:26 +0000 Bad news for energy companies and - presumably - good news for those on lowest incomes. The chancellor wants the power businesses in the current year to treble to £150m what they spend on “social tariffs”. That would mean they... Robert Peston (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/03/bad_news.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/03/bad_news.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:15:57 +0000 The clearest sign of how tight the public finances are is the small sums the chancellor's announcing. A few tens of millions of pounds may sound a lot but in Treasury terms they're a spare fiver and that's the sort... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/small_measures.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/small_measures.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:12:38 +0000 The Budget has the shape I expected… a downgrade of the near term, and a bounce back in the medium term. By 2012, the golden rule measure of borrowing actually looks better than it did back in October. I suspect... Evan Davis (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2008/03/as_expected.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2008/03/as_expected.html Small Change Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:00:47 +0000 Changes to benefit rules (to allow people to earn more before they lose housing and council tax benefit) together with increases to child benefit and child tax credit are designed to get the government back on course to meet their... Nick (BBC News) http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/benefit_rules_1.html http://blogs.bbc.co.uk/nickrobinson/2008/03/benefit_rules_1.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:56:47 +0000 Alistair Darling adopted the technique beloved of his predecessor of rattling through the borrowing figures. But the news this year was good - it seems lower than it was expected to be. The bumper tax receipts that the government received... Evan Davis (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2008/03/real_change_of_direction.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/evandavis/2008/03/real_change_of_direction.html Small Change Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:56:06 +0000 Alistair Darling is confident that the UK will avoid recession. He expects UK economic growth to slow down this year by a third to between 1.75% and 2.25% – but that would be faster than most of our major economic... Robert Peston (BBC News) http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/03/confident_chancellor.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/03/confident_chancellor.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:55:28 +0000