The Chancellor’s Budget announcements today have done little for taxpayers, businesses or the future growth of UK Plc.

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In this regard, it is particularly worrying that the Budget doesn’t appear to have had any meaningful focus on perhaps the two key financial and funding issues facing the Government at present, which are the ongoing and rapid increase in the social welfare budget – which could reach ca. £400bn in the next few years – and the need to increase Defence spending significantly over the coming years.

For example, though Mr Healey indicated that they would cut the social welfare budget in a ‘Labour way’, there were no detailed plans as to what this means and how this will be achieved. In reality, the social welfare budget represents ca. 30% of the Government’s total expenditure and is the Government's biggest individual cost.

Realistically, unless these costs are proactively addressed – and this is something which will be politically difficult for a Labour Government to do – Mr Healey’s claims to be ensuring the Government has ‘fiscal headroom’ are........

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