Chancellor George Osborne delivers a “keep calm and carry on” Budget – with some surprises, including fuel price cuts for the consumer. An expert picks out the key points for Channel 4 News.
It’s Chancellor George Osborne’s first full Budget. But as the Government tries to balance growth with the “age of austerity”, what will it deliver? Channel 4 News speaks to the experts.
As inflation hits a two-year high, Faisal Islam blogs on the “misery index” which suggests that so-called Osbornemania may be a bit premature ahead of Wednesday’s Budget.
Figures seen by Channel 4 News reveal the rapidly-growing cash lost to the Exchequer through the import of VAT-exempt goods such as CDs from other offshore centres, writes Business Producer Ben King.
“If you look at the population and how much they spend, then VAT is progressive…Income tax and National Insurance would have a more damaging impact on poorer people in our society and it’s worth remembering that in the Budget I took substantial means to reduce the NI burden” Chancellor George Osborne MP, BBC Radio 4’s Today programme January 4, 2011
FactCheck analyses Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson’s claim that Labour “paid down debt” and controlled borrowing.
FactCheck analyses Chancellor George Osborne’s claim that measures in the spending review will not increase child poverty
At a time when we are facing deep cuts, it is not acceptable that some people don’t pay their fair share, Danny Alexander said. We will raise an extra £7bn over the next parliament from these plans, he pledged. But how realistic is the commitment?
George Osborne may have underestimated his ability to impact personally on the consciousness of the British people. After his ‘Emergency’ Budget in June, it appears the UK ran for the hills, cowering in fear at the looming axe man, writes Channel 4 News Economics Editor Faisal Islam.
Gary Gibbon
The coalition pledged to “increase the proportion of tax revenues accounted for by environmental taxes”, but the IFS finds they have made little progress on this so far.
Gary Gibbon
VAT, benefits, public spending… Channel 4 News’s Gary Gibbon dissects George Osborne’s first budget.
The Liberal Democrats could be the deciding party in the next election. Their manifesto gets the FactCheck treatment.
FactCheck checks it out FactCheck thought we had a hard day yesterday working on the Labour Manifesto but when 120 pages of the Conservative manifesto dropped in our inboxes we stopped what we were doing and got to work. The analysis “And we will raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1m to help millions of people who…
Labour’s 2010 manifesto has been given the FactCheck treatment. For more read on.
Its claim and counter-claim from the Tories and Labour over how the Tories can make even more efficiency savings than are already being made.