Budget round up

Well I managed to miss the budget statement as I was helping out at Application day at the University so just catching up on the measures now.

Obviously the big shock being the top rate of 50 per cent income tax for incomes over £150,000 and the loss of tax relief on pensions for that bracket as well.

Scary deficit figures of £175b this year falling to £173b next year and £140b the year after.Those figures obviously dependent on the growth figures being correct.

The re forecast for this year being a negative of 3.5 per cent,1.25 per cent next year and back to 3.5 in 2011.

As the ramifications of that are being felt the IMF forecasts a world wide slump of 1.9 per cent this year and forecasts that the UK will fall 4.1% and a further 0.4 per cent next year.

Strangely the Footsie seems unperturbed breaking the 4000 barrier though sterling is down against both the dollar and the Euro

David Cameron did a good job when it came to soundbites but offered little in the way of constructive alternatives.

Nick Clegg called it "a mishmash of recycled announcements from a government skilled in raising false hopes, but incapable of delivering practical help”.and Vince Cable said that the Chancellor's predictions were based on

wildly optimistic assumptions about a sudden recovery,on the basis of nothing whatever. There are no indications about what tough medium term choices there are going to have to be in public spending."

They are also saying that unemployment in the UK could reach 9.2 per cent by the end of next year.