A serious Budget for serious times is what is required today
The Chancellor faces an invidious challenge when he gets up at the despatch box today to deliver his all important Budget statement. He does so against a backdrop of growing domestic economic difficulties, exacerbated by international market turmoil.
John Healey has little headroom to lavish Budget giveaways on the electorate. What the nation needs is a serious Budget for serious times.
The circle that needs to be squared is the need to provide working families with cost of living support in the here and now, in line with Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s pledge upon entering 10 Downing Street, while clearing the way for economic growth and delivering of defence.
Demand for more funding is high across the public sector. However, it is evident that continuing to throw money around is only going to harm the country’s prospects long-term. It begs the question, is the Chancellor strong enough to make the tough decisions required to get Britain back on track?
Healey cannot afford the same mistakes as his predecessor, Rachel Reeves, who sought to balance the books on the backs of businesses. The economy is not going to grow if that approach continues under the current Chancellor. If anything, there is a strong case for Healey to even reverse some of the damaging policies that his predecessor introduced.
Nowhere is this more evident than when it comes to farming. The pernicious family farm tax continues to cast a long dark shadow over agriculture with farmers even actively seeking to deteriorate the value of their assets to avoid falling into the tax threshold.
Burnham’s zeal for devolution is to be welcomed and the Budget is likely to have a strong flavour of devolution. However, the Government needs to exercise caution, not everything can be solved by devolving powers.