Richard Baum

When I was at university, not many of my student colleagues were interested in the budget. They were too busy doing things I should have been doing, like learning how to talk to girls. But they always perked up when I told them how much fags and booze were going up by.

These days, I suspect the situation at universities is much the same. Unfortunately most people above that kind of age now have to take a very close interest in all things budgetarial, because it seems that just about anyone who knows anything about economics concurs that the government has presided over a monumental economic calamity. And we’re now all a bit sombre. In years gone by, I sensed people moaning for a day or two about a tax rise here and there. Now, the BBC’s own inimitable Robert Peston reacts to the budget with the single word “yikes,” and it makes me a little bit sick…

The Lib Dem reaction to the budget can be found here. I won’t repeat what the experts say because I’m not one myself and they do a better and more informed job of it than I do. But whilst I’m not an expert, I am a normal working man, and I’m not happy with lots of what the Chancellor proposed today. I don’t think he was bold enough, or honest enough. His forecasts for growth seem to have been rejected by anyone holding either a degree in Economics or an abacus. There is nothing to stop tax loopholes, nor is there any explanation of what the real cost will be of the billions in efficiency savings identified.

That’s not to say it was all bad - I think the 50% tax rate for the richest 1% on their earnings above £150,000 is a necessary pain. I wish it didn’t have to happen, but it looks like it does. New sixth form places are good news, although how that’s squared with greater efficiencies I don’t know. And business will be pleased with the billions in aid it’s getting, even if the Chairmen of the businesses concerned will be paying more tax!

But all in all the day leaves me as disappointed as I feared it might. It’s a bit scary really. These crazy figures and mounting debt, and the creeping feeling that nobody in charge really knows how to stop it. And it’s all made worse by the continuing failure of the government to take the bold decisions and listen to the voices from the sidelines. We’ll all be paying for that mistake in the years to come.

Rick