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BRITAIN’S CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has unveiled his second budget since taking power – with today’s measures announced in the House of Commons forming his coalition’s first full platform of economic measures following last summer’s ‘emergency budget’.
Here, in bitesize chunks, are some of the numbers produced by Osborne in the Commons today.
2.1 per cent - the previous estimated rate of growth in Britain’s economic output this year, as measured by Gross Domestic Product.
1.7 per cent – the revised forecast as produced by Osborne today.
One penny – the reduction, per litre, in duties levied on fuel.
100,000,000 - the amount, in pounds, pledged to be put forward to repairing potholes on the UK’s road network.
250,000,000 – the amount, in pounds, being set aside for grants for first-time home builders.
8,105 – the amount, in pounds, a worker can now earn before having to pay income tax. This new increased cutoff point is well over £600 higher than pre-budget estimates.
1,100,000 – the number of people the new government claims to have removed from the tax net between this Budget and the previous one.
50 per cent – the highest tax band in the UK, a rate which Osborne says he still considers to be temporary and hopes to remove in coming years.
23 per cent – the UK’s project rate of corporation tax in 2014, after a 2 per cent cut next month is followed by three further incremental annual cuts by 1 per cent.
97 – the number of pages of budget documentation produced by Osborne’s treasury.
21 – the number of pages, by comparison, of the document summarising the changes outlined in Brian Lenihan’s last Budget as Ireland’s own finance minister.
146,000,000,000 – the amount, in pounds, that the UK will have to borrow this year – a full £2.1bn below the previous estimate. This is to fall to £122bn next year and ultimately back down to £29bn by 2016.
40,000,000,000 – the amount, in pounds, of that borrowing that will be spent on defence in the 2011-2012 year.
43 – the number of various taxation reliefs being abolished, in what Osborne describes as a mass simplification of the tax code.
5 - the number of times Osborne thumped the podium in front of him, according to the eagle eyes of the Daily Telegraph.
0 - the number of red iPads containing Budget data wielded by Osborne outside the Commons, in spite of Guido Fawkes’ hopes that the chancellor would bring his notes in on one of Apple’s tablet devices. Osborne, instead, plumped for the traditional ‘red box’.
1 - the number of days before Northern Ireland’s own growth paper, examining the impact of the Budget measures on the province, is published.
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In my opinion every major problem in the country at present simply stems from the fact that we cannot cope with our population increasing by 50 percent in the last 30 years.
We have a civil and public service rooted in the 18th century ( to administer the British Empire) trying to cope with a set of 21st century issues.
Not sure what the solutions are, but a good place to start is admitting you have a problem in the first place, and unfortunately I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
@Gerry Kelly: Ireland’s economy has expanded in multiples of that over the same period. As a country without resources, people are needed or Ireland goes back to the 70s/80s when no one had a job.
Successive governments have failed to recognise the population growth. New infrastructure and perhaps even whole new cities are needed. We have the space but no capacity. Not recognising this is where the responsibility lays.
@Gerry Kelly: spot on
@Gerry Kelly: Gerry that’s exactly it. They’re all stuck in the past and they can’t move forward for a modern Ireland what we need for future generations. I think it’s time to get rid of the old school system and bring in younger thinking people including getting rid of governments who do not provide value for money. Ireland looks great on paper but when you open the press everything falls out, it’s like a third world country the way it’s been run absolutely no logic whatsoever. Stuck in the past.
@Panti Bliss: we were told they are great for our economy. Aren’t they enriching the owner of the red cow hotel?
@Bren: I think everyone would agree with you but there is not one in government or opposition that fits that bill.
Ireland’s yo-yo economy repeatedly swings from property booms to devastating busts.
Each crisis is driven by inadequate government policies. 1970s,1980s, early 1990s, 2008 & a new one on the horizon.
When will a government understand housing should not be a commodity and overheating an economy will consistently cause a bust with profound economic distress….
@Bat Boy: apparently the government have finally listened to the irish fiscal advisory council and are using the apple tax money in a counter-cyclical way. They will spend it on infrastructure and housing when the next crash comes.
This should keep more builders in work at that time, stop them from emigrating, and develop a lot of the infrastructure when it is a bit cheaper to do it. And it will help get ireland out of its recession and to not overheat the economy now.
The government also has a lot of unspent funds for construction, because the industry doesn’t have the workforce to absorb it all.
The article is about regulations and planning, which do need to be sorted out.
@Brian Lynch: so at least some acknowledge there will be a crash
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: really? When?
@Bat Boy: Don’t be such a crackpot Marxist. Building a house takes materials, labor and capital, none of which are free. If you strip away the profit motive, who exactly is supposed to invest in building homes? Governments, who can’t even fill potholes efficiently? Houses don’t just appear out of thin air! Every essential good and service in society operates under supply and demand. The alternative is government rationing, which leads to shortages and inefficiency. Some of the biggest housing disasters in modern history came from this idea that housing should be a “human right” instead of a commodity. The Soviet Union, Venezuela, Cuba and East Germany have tried this and miserably failed. Government-controlled housing led to tiny, overcrowded apartments and decades-long waiting lists.
@Bat Boy: Every country has a boom and bust…..is the government in charge of all countries?
Governments promising x number of houses per year is absolutely hilarious and one of the biggest election sham promises possible to drop to the public. NO government builds houses. They can waffle about policies all they want. If it’s not profitable enough for the private contractors to build then no mass building will be done, if man power and skills isn’t available to build at the speed required it won’t be done. sites will sit there and no amount of spin and waffle on the news and radio is changing that.
@Dan The Man: If building houses was such a money spinner why are billions and billions sitting idly in savings accounts. The chilling effect of the risk of a left wing government is still in the background even though the media failed to get them elected recently.
@thomas molloy: the short answer is that the banks can make more profit from lending thos money to the ECB than risking it on loans to property developers.
The government is complicit in this as a shareholder in aib
It’s all as it is supposed to be.
High prices = more tax revenue.
High rents suit our politicians
especially those with multiple rentals.
Enormous numbers of other rental properties owned by Chinese/US or Canadian investment firms they would not be investing if not highly profitable and they are controlling the rental prices to suit.
Plus on the quiet our government are pouring money (your taxes) in to NGOs here for purchasing homes in bulk but they don’t ever mention these.
Funny how not investing in infrastructure for years seems to have nothing to do with either ff or fg considering one or the other has been in power since the establishment of the state…
This mess on housing was made by FF or FG led governments. Minister in the late 1980′s scrapping building apprenticeships and wider apprenticeship schemes has caught up. whilst large swathes of public owner land banks in county council hands was given away to the political funder builder buddies of FF and FG for miniscule amounts of money. Corruption of various tribunals adds to the mes.
Well, what a surprise (not)!!!!
Another disaster from the government how much more of this is Ireland actually going to accept , whatever happened to the fighting Irish getting out on the streets and telling the government we want better services for our taxes I think sometimes they forget they work for us , as this is disgraceful in 2025
@Bren: the problem is with the electorate, we prefer to get a few quid in the budget rather than be grown ups and spend the money on infrastructure projects that will benefit the people. Imagine a political party saying they want to increase taxes to pay for a reservoir that won’t be finished for 10 years, they wouldn’t have a chance of getting elected.
No roads,no water,no sewage,no apprenticeships,NO HOUSES…simple as.
Unfortunately, the sham government we have thinks about nothing only Europe and Europe only, stay at home, roll up your sleeves, and get stuff sorted ye overpaid fat C##ts
Not true. Huge well connected area in D13 on which developers are just sitting for decades. They gamble on more lucrative planning permissions or they won’t built.
A good article. A good example of why simplistic calls to just ’build more houses’ ignore the more nuanced issues. Could be said for a lot of topics here and abroad. Simple answers to complex questions seem neat and tidy but can often reflect a naivety.
Maybe we SHOULD spend the money on missiles after all. Less houses to get blown up during an inevitable crushing invasion lasting 1 hour.
Can all those people with their plans f off abroad. And build their inferstructur.. My local area has lost facilities in recent years due to increasing population.
I’m living in missile silo in my parents back garden hoping war does not break out. Cosy multi story!
@Go Home Tech Bro: lol.
Goes back to a 1980′s led FF government scrapped all building apprenticeship schemes and sold off all County a d state ka d banks to their business and building landlord FG buddies for a song. We’re all paying for that hubris
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