The Chancellor Alistair Darling plans to put the country into deeper recession over the proposals set out in his Pre-Budget Report.
Here are some of the main points:
- The government forecasts that borrowing will go up to £78billion, up from a projected £43billion.
- £3billion will be brought forward for major repair and infrastructure maintainance projects. However, the government plans to make £5billion worth of efficiency savings by 2011.
- There will be a temporary cut in Value Added Tax (VAT) from 17 and a half per cent to 15 percent from Next Monday until the end of 2009.
- A new 45p income tax rate will be introduced in April 2011 for those earning £150,000 a year or more. A temporary £120 rebate to help those who lost out when the 10p rate was abolished, will be raised to £145 from April 2009, and made permanent.
- The state pension will rise by only six pounds for singles (£124 to £130), and by only nine pounds (£189 to £198) for couples.
- Fuel and excise duty will see changes in rates for new cars in April 2009, but will be phased in for older cars.
When all this sets in, the majority of people in Britain will lose out. These measures at a time of falling revenues will put the country’s finances deeper in the red. It’s a ‘spend now, pay later’ budget report…. except that whichever political party wins at the next general election will have to deal with today’s recklessness in the future.