The UK Budget 2013.

I have not fully read the UK's 2013 Budget let alone digested it. Therefore this post will be light on detail and there is the possibility of some gore out in further days. However it is quite clear that this budget was incredibly light on economic detail and heavy with political theatrics.

For example the Chancellor/Finance Minister George Osborne had been speaking for about 15 minutes before he mentioned anything about finance or economics. Instead he used the time to compare the UK government, the semi-autonomous Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) assessments of the UK economy. This was a direct reference to the police raid on the director of the IMF Christine Lagarde's Paris home that was going on as Osborne delivered his speech. Although the police investigation into Lagarde relates to fraud and corruption allegations during her time in the French government the timing of the investigation and the raid represent a growing feeling within the European Union (EU) that Lagarde was a very poor choice for IMF head. Thanks America.

Osborne's coughing fit and his reach for water was a reference to the old rule that alcohol is banned from the chamber of the House of Commons. However the Chancellor may sip from a glass of whisky as he delivers his budget speech should the news be so bad he feels the need to steady his nerves.

Proving that he may need his nerves steadied Osborne went on to list the details of how the UK economy had performed in macro-economic terms. This includes things like growth and debt to GDP ratios. Basically the UK economy missed every single one of the targets Osborne set in his last budget. He then went on to outline his prediction of how the economy would perform over the coming years. As the UK economy had not performed as well as expected these targets were revised down. However as Osborne hasn't hit a single one of the targets he's set in three years even these lowered expectations drew snorts of derision from economists.

Osborne then proceeded to reel off a long list of bribes to get the electorate to like him. So the personal income tax threshold was raised to £10,000 a year ahead of schedule. A planned 3p rise in alcohol tax was scrapped and replaced by a 1p cut. A planned 3p rise in fuel tax was also scrapped. Families were given 20% tax relief to pay for childcare which works out about £1500 per family per year. The most interesting bribe was the extension of the shared equity scheme from the last budget that sees the government giving interest free loans to people buying new build homes. This was meant to be a double plea to the Conservatives core middle-class voters. Not only does it help people get onto the property ladder which is the ultimate dream for many of the middle classed it also promotes a very complicated discussion about leveraging effects and greenbelt development. I can't be bothered to explain this fully but basically the move was designed to show that the government is listening to voter concerns about the expansion of housing development onto greenbelt land spoiling their rural communities.

Overall the tone of the budget was quite simple. It was the Conservatives admitting that their economic policy over the last three years has been a complete disaster before trying to bribe the electorate into voting for them in 2015. Of course in actual fact doing this so blatantly and so early actually makes it harder for the Conservatives to do this again closer to the election. Therefore you can't help but feel that much like the 2010 General Election the result of the 2015 General Election has already been decided long before anyone has even gone near a ballot box. If they hadn't been called out on it the spectacle of the Labour and LibDem parties uniting to stand up to the Conservatives on press regulation on Monday (18/3/13) was supposed to give the world a sneak preview of what Britain's post-2015 government will be.

Frankly the Crown's play was so obvious it makes me think I wasted a lot of energy last night resisting the temptation to Tweet out; "As the Chancellor finishes delivering his budget speech he will fall to his knees, tear open his shirt and scream to the heavens PLEASE, PLEASE VOTE FOR US!!"

20:50 on 20/3/13.