Thursday 20 March 2014

Budget 2014: Osborne appeals to the Tory core

CHANCELLOR George Osborne produced a Budget aimed at attracting some of the straying core Conservative vote back from UKIP ahead of next year's general election.

Osborne described his fifth Budget as being one for "the makers, the doers and the savers" as he announced an end to tax restrictions on pensioners' access to their pension pots.

In practical terms, this means that pensioners will no longer be required to purchase an annuity, instead gaining the opportunity to a big chunk of their savings pot to spend early in their retirement.

They will have to pay income tax on that - but the taxable part of a pension pot taken as cash on retirement will be charged at normal income tax rate, usually 20%, down massively from 55%.

The policy is, however, not without concern as it opens up the possibility of pensioners frittering away their hard-earned gains, leaving themselves poorer in their final few years.

Alternatively, the argument favoured by Mr Osborne is that pensioners can be - and should be - trusted to look after their own money, and that this liberal reform of the pensions system allows them much more control of their own affairs.

For savers frustrated by low interest rates, Osborne has introduced a new tax-free ISA from 1 July which will allow investors to put in up to £15,000-a-year in either cash or shares.

Of course, having £15,000 spare is not exactly commonplace for most of us.

Nevertheless, the other big Budget measure was more helpful to the wider working population with the decision to increase the personal allowance to £10,500 from 2015.

At the beginning of the Parliament, the allowance stood at just £6,475 so there has been an increase of £4,025 in five years, something worth £805 to a 20% taxpayer.

This has been a flagship policy of the Liberal Democrats - and, while the Conservatives have attempted to take some credit for it, the Lib Dems can point towards the fact they have campaigned for this long before they were in government.

Anyway, with the increased allowance now having been implemented, Nick Clegg's beleaguered junior coalition partners at least have one genuine thing to shout about when canvassing the doorsteps. It is just about the only thing, though.

In other matters altogether, this was another decent Budget for drivers and drinkers, and there was an added bonus for bingo players.

Osborne confirmed that the planned rise in fuel duty in September had again been scrapped.

Meanwhile duty on spirits and ordinary cider was frozen. Beer duty was even cut by a penny to the obvious delight of CAMRA chief executive Mike Benner.

Mr Benner said: "CAMRA is delighted to see the Chancellor implementing an unprecedented second consecutive cut of 1p in beer duty.

"This is not only about keeping the price of a pint affordable in British pubs but helping an industry which has been in overall decline continue on its long road to recovery.

"No doubt many of our 160,000 members will be raising a glass to the Chancellor this evening to toast another brilliant Budget for British beer drinkers."

Never mind that - bingo players will be raising their dabber pens after a surprise announcement that taxes in bingo halls are to be halved, from 20% to 10%.



Yet even this fairly innocuous Budget element has rather backfired following a ludicrous online poster (pictured above), tweeted by Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps.

The text, which reads "Cutting the bingo tax and beer duty to help hardworking people do more of the things they enjoy", frankly defies belief.

Lib Dem Treasury minister Danny Alexander was so stunned, he thought the poster was initially a spoof, adding it was "rather patronising" and "demeans some sensible things in the Budget".

It was not all good news for the gambling industry, though - duty on fixed-odds betting terminals increased to 25%.

Finally, among the main duties, tobacco will rise by 2% above inflation and this escalator will be extended beyond the next general election.

Just quite whether Mr Osborne will still be Chancellor after 2015 will be decided at the ballot box - but there are some signs, at last, of an economic recovery.

Growth has been revised upwards to 2.7% this year and 2.3% next year, then by 2.6% in 2016 and 2017.

Meanwhile, government borrowing is set to fall year-on-year until 2018-19 when there is expected to be a first Budget surplus since 2001.

That is still half a Parliament longer than originally planned and, consequently, Mr Osborne has set a cap on the welfare budget at £119bn for 2015-16.

The restriction includes child benefit, incapacity benefit, winter fuel payment and income support - but does not include the state pension or Jobseeker's Allowance.

Labour has said it will NOT oppose the cap when it is voted on in Parliament next week, but leader Ed Miliband still condemned the coalition for running an "economy of the privileged, by the privileged, for the privileged".

It has not really been Labour, though, which Mr Osborne has thought about when compiling this Budget.

Instead, the looming prospect of UKIP damaging the Tories' chances of being re-elected has been tackled head on.

Nigel Farage's party will surely still do well at the European elections in May, its euroscepticism being its best-known and arguably most potent policy.

But when it comes to who runs the country in just over a year's time, it might be a different matter altogether.

Those ageing, straying true blue Tories may well realise the futility of a UKIP vote in their constituency so that they drift back to their natural home.

And for those of a certain age still making up their minds, Mr Osborne's pensions overhaul could well be the deciding factor.

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