Analysing the pre-election Budget: a good deal for the county’s residents?

THIS was not a pre-election giveaway Budget. It was a well thought through Budget continuing the long term economic plan that has led to the UK having the fastest growing economy in the West.

By increasing personal allowances, hard working people are keeping more of their money. The introduction of new savings accounts will encourage savings, enabling more people to determine their own future.

The increasing of the size of the Science Vale Enterprise Zone in southern Oxfordshire will encourage more business to Oxfordshire and the business rate retention will provide the much-needed infrastructure.

This will bring more jobs to the region.

The Government is committed to more house building, in particular the Bicester Garden City project.

There is strong evidence of support for small businesses – in particular via the Broadband Connection Voucher scheme. The scheme is open to all SMEs, charities, social enterprises and sole traders and provides up to £3,000 to support broadband connection.

The scheme in Oxford has already issued 111 vouchers.

Oxfordshire is a rural county where in parts a car is a necessity not a luxury. The freeze on fuel duty is helping families and small business.

The Government is also extending the period over which self-employed farmers can average their profits for income tax purposes from two to five years. This will help protect farmers from the volatility they often face.

More than 29,000 farmers could benefit – with an average individual gain of £950 a year. This is particularly important news for Oxfordshire given that we are the most rural county in the South East.

This is a good Budget not just for Oxfordshire but for the whole of the country. It will enable the economy continue to grow in a balanced and sustainable way.

Bob Price, Labour leader of Oxford City Council.

IN THE run-up to D-Day in June 1944, the Allies ran a highly effective double bluff operation to convince Hitler and his generals that the invasion would be targeted at Calais rather than Normandy.

It worked and the rest is history.

George Osborne’s last Budget was designed to do the same thing – to divert the attention of voters from the failures of his time as Chancellor and his future plans with lots of windy rhetoric and window dressing.

Britain has experienced the slowest recovery from a recession in living memory – slower even than the years after the Great Depression.

In 2010, Osborne inherited an economy from Labour that was starting to recover from the world banking crisis recession.

He stopped that recovery in its tracks with deep cuts in spending and a big increase in VAT to 20 per cent (remember that?), leading to massive cuts in real living standards and rising unemployment.

The economy flatlined for over two years until Osborne ditched his plans and stoked up the housing market.

The deficit is still running at £90bn rather than the £37bn that Osborne had predicted, the balance of payments deficit is at a record level, productivity has stagnated, and poverty has increased.

Average earnings are still four per cent below 2010.

The hidden message of the Budget is that if you think that austerity is easing, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

The coalition is planning a further £30bn of cuts in Government spending in the next three years, on top of the deep cuts that have been made since 2010.

Of these, £13bn will come from cuts to the armed forces, to roads, libraries, social care, housing and education, and £12bn from a massive assault on social security – the Government has refused to say which groups will be targeted.

Instead of seeking to bribe pensioners with annuity handouts, and first-time buyers with £3,000 ISA top-ups in order to win votes at the election, Osborne should have started to restore funding for the NHS which needs £2.5bn extra next year and for social care for the elderly which is in deep crisis.

Unlike the Allies in 1944, Osborne’s attempt to fool the electorate just makes it obvious how out of touch he is with what really matters to the people of Britain.