Alistair Darling’s pothole budget
What has happened to the giant pothole in the public finances? The answer is that some of it, more than expected, has been filled in, but not by Mr Darling, writes Faisal Islam.
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Plaid Cymru accuses the “London parties” of planning to slash & burn budgets in Wales
Key claims in Alistair Darling’s 2010 budget – FactChecked.
What has happened to the giant pothole in the public finances? The answer is that some of it, more than expected, has been filled in, but not by Mr Darling, writes Faisal Islam.
Channel 4 News political editor Gary Gibbon blogs on how the budget shows Labour’s strategy for neutralising Conservative attacks on the economy.
Alistair Darling prepares to deliver the budget, but we learn little very new more about the grim times ahead today.
I found the whole experience of being cast off into towns we never visit to talk to people we rarely meet somewhat like going on a foreign trip, writes Jon Snow.
Ahead of the budget, we already have the start of a Dutch auction between the main parties on bank taxes that seeks to tap into enduring public anger for electoral purposes, writes Faisal Islam.
This is the big dilemma that will decide the election. Spend the shock £5- £10bn undershoot on the deficit, or bank it and pay down the national debt. Darling would spend it all, and Osborne would save it all, right? Wrong. The day that February public borrowing was shown to have reached a record seems…
The claim “The defence budget has been rising every year…. The only time the defence budget has been cut was in the 10 years before 1997” Gordon Brown, Questions to the prime minister, 10 March, 2010 Cathy Newman checks it out Gordon Brown has been under heavy fire from the top military brass in the…
Gary Gibbon blogs on how Gordon Brown has revealed the date of the budget in a key note speech, and set out what are likely to be Labour’s election themes on the economy.
Channel 4 News FactCheck runs the rule over Philip Hammond’s claim that cutting Child Trust Funds and Child Tax Credits will save over £1bn.
Alistair Darling gave the impression that the party of the NHS was to continue the bountiful spending settlements that have seen the health service budget triple since 1997, but capital spending is set for a 21.9% real-terms cut.
The message in the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Green Budget, published today, is: don’t cut now but plan credible larger cuts for the entirety of the next parliament, blogs Faisal Islam.
The pre-budget report task Alistair Darling seemed to have devised for himself was to look like he “gets it” on the deficit while preserving dividing lines between Labour and the Conservatives.
Faisal Islam tweets his reaction to the Chancellor’s pre-budget report.