Budget 2015: House of Commons Rep (DOT) Coverage

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Budget 2015: House of Commons Rep (DOT) Coverage

Image: PA/Dominic Lipinski

Hi MSE’ers,

The Chancellor will deliver the Budget on Wednesday 18 March at 12.30pm in the House of Commons Chamber. This will be followed by Budget debates in the Commons on Thursday 19 March, Friday 20 March and Monday 23 March.

Follow our thread for regular updates, including links to live video coverage, transcripts of the Budget Statement and debates, background information from the House of Commons Library, and Budget facts.


We encourage discussion and comments concerning the topic or content of this thread.

Watch the Budget

The Budget will be shown live on Parliament TV.

Read the Chancellor’s Budget Statement

The transcript of the Budget Statement will be made available three hours after it happens on Parliament's website: Today's Commons Debates

Are you going to watch the Chancellor deliver the Budget? What are you most interested in?

Thanks

DOT

worldtraveller

Hasn't a lot of it been leaked by the Treasury already? :whistle:

peter_the_piper

As always. Some even leak their budgets before they are elected.

UKParliament

Budget 2015: The Budget Explained

What is the Budget Statement?

The Budget, or Financial Statement, is a statement made to the House of Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The Budget statement includes:

• a review of how the UK economy is performing
• forecasts of how the UK economy will perform in the future by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)
• details of any changes to taxation.

The Chancellor's decisions usually remain secret until the speech. This is, mainly, to prevent anyone profiting from having advance knowledge of the government's plans.

What happens in Parliament?

The Chancellor of the Exchequer delivers the Budget statement to Members of Parliament in the House of Commons.

Provisional collection of taxes

Some measures, such as any changes to the rates of duty on alcohol and tobacco, come into effect on Budget day or soon after.

The power to make these changes on an interim basis, before the Finance Bill is passed, comes from the House of Commons approving a motion for the provisional collection of these taxes.

Debates

Traditionally the Leader of the Opposition, currently Labour Leader Edward Miliband, rather than the Shadow Chancellor replies to the Budget Speech.

The Budget is usually followed by four days of debate on the Budget Resolutions, these are the tax measures announced in the Budget. Each day of debate covers a different policy area such as health, education and defence. The Shadow Chancellor makes his response the day after the Budget statement during the Budget debates.

Budget Resolutions can come into effect immediately if the House of Commons agrees to them at the end of the four days of debate but they require the Finance Bill to give them permanent legal effect.

The Finance Bill

A new Finance Bill is presented to Parliament each year. It enacts the proposals for taxation made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget statement and brings them into law.

Once the House of Commons has agreed the Budget Resolutions, the Finance Bill starts its passage through Parliament in the same way as any other bill.

Scrutiny

Following each Budget statement the Commons Treasury Select Committee conducts an inquiry into the Government’s proposals, gathering evidence from expert witnesses and publishing a report with its conclusions and recommendations.

The Government then produces a report in response to the Committee’s findings.

The House of Lords Economic Affairs Sub-Committee examines selected aspects of the Finance Bill, including tax administration, clarification and simplification.

The Chairman of the Ways and Means

Traditionally, the Chairman of Ways and Means (Deputy Speaker) chairs the Budget debates rather than the Speaker. Watch current Chairman, Lindsay Hoyle MP, explain why.

• Find out more about the Budget on Parliament's website

Do you have any questions about Parliament and the Budget?

UKParliament

BUDGET 2015: Budget Day

It’s Budget Day!

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr George Osborne, will deliver the Budget Statement to the House of Commons today. We expect this to commence at 12.30pm, after Prime Minister’s Question Time.

Will you be watching the Budget live on Parliament TV?

Former_MSE_Andrea

Thanks for this, some great info there. We've moved it over from Discussion Time so everyone can read this.

We're looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say! If you're not yet a forum member and want to join in the discussion you can do it quickly here: join the forum

UKParliament

Budget 2015: House of Commons Library Analysis

The House of Commons Library produces briefing papers to inform MPs and their staff of key issues. The papers contain factual information and a range of opinions on each subject, and aim to be politically impartial.

Here are some of the main points from the Commons Library Budget 2015 Paper:

• The 2015 Budget, the last of the current Parliament, comes at a time when the UK economy continues to perform strongly. GDP growth in 2014 was at its highest since before the recession, the number and proportion of people in work have reached record levels, and by the end of 2015 unemployment looks set to return to its pre-crisis level. Economic growth is expected to remain healthy in 2015.
  
  
• The combination of low inflation, driven by the fall in oil prices, and improvements in earnings has recently led to average earnings growing in real terms for the first time since the start of the recession. However real earnings are not expected to return to pre-crisis levels before 2020.
  
  
• The Eurozone, where Greece’s debt woes persist, continues to be a risk to economic growth. At home, the sustainability of growth is dependent on productivity improving from its current period of stagnation.
  
  
• Government borrowing has fallen by over £50 billion since 2009/10 to £97 billion in 2013/14. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast a further fall of £6 billion in 2014/15, bringing borrowing to £91 billion. Speculation in the media is that the OBR may reduce their forecasts of the deficit in the Budget due to lower than expected oil prices and inflation.
  
  
• Debt continues to rise. Public Sector Net Debt reached 79% of GDP in 2013/14; the OBR expects it to peak at 81% in 2015/16 and start falling in 2016/17.

Read the full paper: House of Commons Library Paper – The Budget 2015

UKParliament

13 facts about Budgets and Chancellors

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr George Osborne, is expected to deliver the Budget Statement soon.

Here are 13 facts about Budgets and Chancellors:

1. The word Budget comes from an old French word ‘bougette’ meaning little bag. It was customary to bring the statement on financial policy to the House of Commons in a leather bag. The modern equivalent of the bag is the red despatch box or Budget box.
   
   
2. The word exchequer dates from the Norman Conquest and is thought to be derived from the Latin scaccarium, meaning a chequered board, as money was counted on a squared tablecloth.
   
   
3. Budgets have traditionally been delivered in Spring as most taxes originally derived from land ownership and April marked the start of the new agricultural year.
   
   
4. Pitt the Younger’s December 1798 Budget speech was the first to propose the introduction of income tax. This came into effect in April 1799, with the top rate set at 10% on incomes over £200 a year. This was abolished in 1802 by Henry Addington, but reinstated in 1803, following the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. Income tax has been continually levied since the Income Tax Act of 1842.
   
   
5. Sir Kingsley Wood, who served as Chancellor between 1940 and 1943 was due to announce the creation of the Pay as You Earn system to tax collection, but died suddenly on the morning he was due to announce this to the Commons in in September 1943.
   
   
6. In his April 1953 budget, Chancellor R.A. Butler announced that the sugar ration would be increased from 10oz to 12oz a week, seen as a means of allowing for the baking of celebratory cakes to mark the Queen's coronation.
   
   
7. Denis Healy’s April 1978 budget was the first to be broadcast on radio, following the beginning of regular radio broadcasts from Parliament earlier that month. John Major’s only budget as Chancellor in March 1990 budget was the first to be televised live.
   
   
8. During Nigel Lawson’s 1988 Budget speech, Alex Salmond was dismissed from the Chamber and subsequently suspended from the House for a week after launching a verbal attack on Nigel Lawson, shouting “This Budget is an obscenity.” The House was later suspended for 10 minutes by deputy speaker Harold Walker following the outbreak of “grave disorder”, with many Labour members shouting 'shame' at the Chancellor's announcement that the top rate of income tax would be reduced to 40%.
   
   
9. In the twentieth century, seven chancellors have delivered only one budget - Charles Ritchie in April 1903, Reginald McKenna in March 1916, Sir Robert Horne in May 1922, Stanley Baldwin in April 1923, Hugh Gaitskell in April 1951, Peter Thorneycroft in April 1957 and John Major in March 1990.
   
   
10. Iain Macleod is the only twentieth century Chancellor not to have delivered a budget, dying suddenly in July 1970, a month after his appointment.
    
    
11. In the twentieth century nine Chancellors have gone on to become Prime Minister - Herbert Asquith, David Lloyd George, Andrew Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Harold MacMillan, James Callaghan and John Major. Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in 2007 after serving as Chancellor since 1997.
    
    
12. Delivering twelve Budget speeches over various terms in office between 1852 and 1882, William Ewart Gladstone holds the record for delivering more Budget speeches than any other Chancellor of the Exchequer. Gordon Brown holds the record the number of consecutive budget speeches, delivering eleven between 1997 and 2007.
    
    
13. George Osborne was appointed Chancellor in May 2010 at the age of 38, turning 39 before delivered his first Budget in June 2010. Osborne is the youngest Chancellor since Hugh Gaitskell, who was 44 when appointed in October 1950. Pitt the Younger was 23 when appointed in 1782.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Join in our Fun poll too:

How many times will George Osborne say "austerity" in today's Budget?

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UPDATE: The Budget Statement will begin in approximately 5 minutes.

Watch live on Parliament TV .

UKParliament

UPDATE: The leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband, will now respond to the Chancellor’s Budget Speech.

Are you watching the Budget live?

What are your thoughts so far?