Spending cuts expected in this years budget
The spring budget will be delivered by George Osborne this wednesday, he will set out the Government’s plans for the economy based on the latest forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) plus tax change proposals for the following financial year.
According to the BBC the the Treasury said it would not comment on speculation about the Budget, however it is widely expected that the Chancellor will change the rules on pensions tax relief in some way, banks and insurers are expected to be hit for billions of pounds in extra taxes and additional austerity by way of new spending cuts.
This is the final budget before the “Brexit” referendum in June, the chancellor has to deal with a slowdown in the economy and stagnant inflation, this could put at risk him missing his target of running a budget surplus by the end of the parliament in 2020.
Chancellor George Osborne reportedly told the BBC: “We’ve just had new figures that show the economy is smaller than we thought in Britain, and we also know that global risks are growing and Britain is not immune to those things.
“We may need to undertake further reductions in spending because this country can only afford what it can afford and we will address that in the Budget. I’m absolutely clear we’ve got to root our country in the principle that we must live within our means and have economic security.
“We’ll set it out if we need to, how we’ll reduce spending, but the first place I look to is further efficiencies in government. There are always ways to make government better, always ways to make sure that the taxes of people are better spent.”
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