Watchman Alfrescian Loyal Joined Mar 12, 2009 Messages 13,160 Points 0 Dec 10, 2009 #1 Darling vows to hammer middle classes but refuses to tackle Britain's terrifying debt (that'll be someone else's problem) By James Chapman Last updated at 8:46 AM on 10th December 2009 Chancellor: Alistair Darling delivers his pre-budget report Alistair Darling shamelessly hammered middle-earners with tax rises yesterday so he could keep pouring cash into public services. In his final Pre-Budget Report before a General Election, the Chancellor refused to set out plans to rein in public spending. Instead, he gambled that ten million voters earning more than £20,000 a year will resign themselves to a 1p rise in National Insurance in 2011 so Labour can fight on a pledge to maintain budgets for schools, hospitals and the police. Opposition MPs said that, in a national crisis, the Chancellor had put party before country and ducked the hard choices - passing the buck to the next government. Critics contrasted his approach with that of Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, who yesterday unveiled the toughest Budget in his country's history, slashing public spending by seven per cent. Mr Darling's effort left the City unmoved. Experts had already dubbed it the 'Phoney Budget Report' in the expectation that an election defeat for Labour will mean none of it ever happening. In a package designed to create dividing lines with the Tories, the Chancellor had almost nothing to say about how he would respond to the unprecedented turmoil in the public finances. Spending cuts of at least 10 per cent in areas such as defence, housing, transport and higher education are being postponed until 2011. Instead, he said, public spending would rise by £31billion in election year 2010.
Darling vows to hammer middle classes but refuses to tackle Britain's terrifying debt (that'll be someone else's problem) By James Chapman Last updated at 8:46 AM on 10th December 2009 Chancellor: Alistair Darling delivers his pre-budget report Alistair Darling shamelessly hammered middle-earners with tax rises yesterday so he could keep pouring cash into public services. In his final Pre-Budget Report before a General Election, the Chancellor refused to set out plans to rein in public spending. Instead, he gambled that ten million voters earning more than £20,000 a year will resign themselves to a 1p rise in National Insurance in 2011 so Labour can fight on a pledge to maintain budgets for schools, hospitals and the police. Opposition MPs said that, in a national crisis, the Chancellor had put party before country and ducked the hard choices - passing the buck to the next government. Critics contrasted his approach with that of Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, who yesterday unveiled the toughest Budget in his country's history, slashing public spending by seven per cent. Mr Darling's effort left the City unmoved. Experts had already dubbed it the 'Phoney Budget Report' in the expectation that an election defeat for Labour will mean none of it ever happening. In a package designed to create dividing lines with the Tories, the Chancellor had almost nothing to say about how he would respond to the unprecedented turmoil in the public finances. Spending cuts of at least 10 per cent in areas such as defence, housing, transport and higher education are being postponed until 2011. Instead, he said, public spending would rise by £31billion in election year 2010.
