We have been listening to all the hype about the Budget for to-day.

One of the things raised is the concern for people in the public sector like classroom assistants losing their jobs. Although I must sympathies with these people if they do, I must ask the question about about how the jobs were created in the first place. When I was a child at school there were no classroom assistants. Teachers were lone workers. They were allowed to discipline the kids, I know as I got a whack with a slipper and the cane. Maybe it is because of the mambe pambe state that has been created and that teachers cannot discipline the kids that these people are there to help?

Also the Bulgarian retirement age is to be raised by 3 years. Nothing new in that, but did you know that for every year they work over the age they get an increase in their pensions. A small increase but an increase. In the UK if you pay in over the top like many of us have you get nowt.

Just a little post to start a different debate maybe.

Tony

:Good post:Tony I'm sitting here waiting for all the bad news whatever happens here in the UK it's going to have an effect on all of us and I do believe those who are on pensions will suffer too even in other EU countries I think the main thing will be VAT which as we all know effects all of us in so many ways but lets wait and see what happens ??? not long now.

sarah

[size=85:2ht5c4x4]BBC news 22 June 2010

Budget: Osborne's 'tough' package puts VAT up to 20%

Download Pdf link to the full Budget [url:2ht5c4x4]http:
//www.
direct.
gov.
uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_188581.
pdf[/url:2ht5c4x4]

VAT is to rise from 17.5% to 20% in January as George Osborne unveiled the biggest package of tax increases and spending cuts in a generation.

He said his "
tough but fair"
Budget was "
unavoidable"
although he told MPs in the Commons there would be no extra tax on alcohol, tobacco and fuel.

Child benefit will be frozen for three years and there would be cuts to family tax credits and housing benefits.

And there will be a two year pay freeze for public servants paid over £21,000.

Key points: At-a-glance How the VAT rise will work UK to 'balance books' by 2016

Mr Osborne said Britain's record budget deficit would be eliminated within five years - faster than the previous Labour government was planning.

He said such action was needed to prevent a "
catastrophic collapse"
in economic confidence but he stressed it would be done in a "
fair"
way with the better-off shouldering most of the burden.

"
Everyone will pay something but the people at the bottom of the income scale will pay proportionately less than those at the top. This is a progressive Budget,"
he said to jeers from Labour MPs.

Housing benefit will be reformed with a maximum limit of £400 a week, in a package saving £1.8bn a year by the end of the Parliament.

Other benefits to be cut include the health in pregnancy grant while the Sure Start maternity grant will be restricted to the first child only and lone parents will be expected to look for work when their youngest child goes to school.

But there will be an extra £150 a year for the poorest families, through changes to family tax credits to ensure, Mr Osborne said, child poverty reduction targets would be met.

The government is also to introduce a medical assessment for Disability Living Allowance from 2013 for new and existing claimants.
From January 2011, the Government will introduce a bank levy, which will apply to the balance sheets of UK banks and building societies and the UK operations of foreign banks. Mr Osborne said the move would raise £2bn a year once it was fully in place.

Mr Osborne said public sector workers paid more than £21,000 a year would have a two year pay freeze with those paid less getting a flat pay increase of £250 for the next two years.

He said government departments - excluding health and international development would be cut by 25% over four years, with the full details to be set out on 20 October.

Mr Osborne also froze the Civil List payments to the Royal Family at £7.9m a year and said in future years they would be subject to scrutiny by the National Audit Office.

Mr Osborne began by promising an "
enterprise-led recovery"
which rewarded work and protected the most vulnerable.

But he said the UK economy was predicted to expand at a slower rate than predicted by Alistair Darling in his final Labour Budget in March, according to figures from the new Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

The forecast for 2011 is now for 2.6% growth, not 3.25%.

Mr Osborne - the youngest Chancellor for more than a century - vowed to eliminate Britain's budget deficit within five years, faster than was planned by the previous Labour government.

'Tough but fair'
The Budget represents a major change of direction for the British economy, ending Labour's efforts to spend its way out of recession through a "
fiscal stimulus"
.

Labour will argue that the VAT increase would hit the poorest people in society the hardest - pensioners, the unemployed and those who do not pay income tax at all.

Mr Osborne's measure to help the low paid by raising personal tax allowances, taking an estimated 880,000 people out of the tax system and give millions of basic rate taxpayers a tax cut of £200 per year.

It is rare for a Budget to contain both an overhaul of the taxation system and a significant shift in the boundary between public sector and private sector

Robert Peston BBC Business Editor Robert Peston's blog Nick Robinson's blog Stephanie Flanders's blog Analysis from around the web

The plan is the first step towards a key Liberal Democrat coalition demand of taking all those earning less than £10,000 out of tax.

The chancellor must find £3.5bn to pay for the giveaway - which will be clawed back from top rate taxpayers - and Labour are likely to argue it is irresponsible in the current climate.

In a message last night to Liberal Democrat supporters, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg made clear that his party was fully signed up to the coalition's economic strategy.

He rejected accusations that he had "
sold out"
to the Conservatives, insisting that the Budget would bear "
the stamp of our Liberal Democrat values"
.

Labour argues that rather than being a necessary response to Britain's massive debts, Mr Osborne's "
emergency Budget"
is an ideologically driven assault on public spending which risks pushing the UK back into recession.

Must have a read of this but I'm sure its all going to cost us a fortune one way or another I can't really say what I think here

Difficult to know what to say? if the UK is in so much trouble then I guess they have to do something? and no matter what they did someone wouldn't like it so I guess its a no win situation for them, I do think they could have increased the tax on cigs and alcohol which lets face it seems to be draning the health service but to cut spending on the services is in my opinion a bad move, I think this budget will make things very hard for those who are already struggling

The biggest and bitterest pill to take is VAT to rise 20%. Although it has now come into line with most EU Countries it is a big rise and will affect every single person in the UK. It does seem a shame that this will not help those who are already struggling with low incomes through no fault of their own. But on the brighter side this Government seems determined to rid the Country of the lazy bu**ers that live off the state. No more easy handouts Plus some of the so called bad back brigade will be sussed out and told to get to work. That for me is very pleasing.

Lets see what happens in the uk with the budget on Wednesday from George Osborne

firstly Tony60 classroom assistants are there to help with children who have disabilities etc, so without these the children would struggle, as the main aim is to integrate children with disabilites into main stream schooling. Are they not talking about increasing personal allowance before tax, helping the first time buyer to get the housing market going, I doubt if the average person will get anything though

Fletch wrote:

firstly Tony60 classroom assistants are there to help with children who have disabilities etc, so without these the children would struggle, as the main aim is to integrate children with disabilites into main stream schooling. Are they not talking about increasing personal allowance before tax, helping the first time buyer to get the housing market going, I doubt if the average person will get anything though

After nearly 8 months this comment is a surprise.

Class room assistants are in schools to help children with learning difficulties this there is no doubt. But in one Secondary school that we know of (and it is not un-common) the classroom assistants equal or more probably out number the teachers.

This new budget will be of interest. Lets just hope that FTSE increases and hence the exchange rate as this is what affects most of us living abroad.

tonyb60 wrote:

Lets just hope that FTSE increases and hence the exchange rate as this is what affects most of us living abroad.

There are plenty of people with money in Euros or Leva rather than GBP - wouldn't be so good for them. The Pound falling a little against the Euro just lately was a great help to me as I had to transfer from Euros into Sterling.

coriolanus wrote:

tonyb60 wrote:

Lets just hope that FTSE increases and hence the exchange rate as this is what affects most of us living abroad.

There are plenty of people with money in Euros or Leva rather than GBP - wouldn't be so good for them. The Pound falling a little against the Euro just lately was a great help to me as I had to transfer from Euros into Sterling.

Good point george but this would mainly be for people like you who are in business and hence income generated in this Country. Many of the poorer Brits like us Pensioners depend on the Exchange Rate to live. Hence if the rate is low we have less Leva to play with.

:Good post:Tonyb60

tonyb60 wrote:

coriolanus wrote:

tonyb60 wrote:

Lets just hope that FTSE increases and hence the exchange rate as this is what affects most of us living abroad.

There are plenty of people with money in Euros or Leva rather than GBP - wouldn't be so good for them. The Pound falling a little against the Euro just lately was a great help to me as I had to transfer from Euros into Sterling.

Good point george but this would mainly be for people like you who are in business and hence income generated in this Country. Many of the poorer Brits like us Pensioners depend on the Exchange Rate to live. Hence if the rate is low we have less Leva to play with.

Hear, hear Tony - us penniless pensioners need every penny we can get hold of!!

t's all "
Smoke 'n Mirrors"
as is usual by ALL Chancellors by both Labour and the Con-Dems in Coalition. The cancellation of the Fuel Duty Rise and the Escalator is just a load of 'Pap'. The increase in Taxation on the North Sea Oil Producers in the UK will see them passing on these additional Tax costs to the Customer in the form of increased Pump Prices come 2012 onwards. So there will be NO real benefit to the Motorist or prices in the Supermarkets. As for promises to cut "
Red Tape2 - just watch for the 'Revenge of the Jobsworths' in Town Halls and local Councils. They will 'Make Hay' whilst all the draconian Labour Party legislation is still on the Statue Books. We, the Peasants, Workers &
Soldiers will still continue to 'bleed cash' to support the delusions of government and our Lords and Masters in Parliament and Whitehall.

Osbourne thinks we are all stupid. He has taken a penny a litre off a litre of fuel after putting it up about 5p with an increase in VAT and then he has the audacity to say that we will be better off because he is not going to increase duty (linked to inflation) as originally planned. Instead everyone will get shafted next year. I am also watching the fuel companies prices like a hawk. I have seen no visible signs of a decrease, I know it is early days, but if motorists think there is going to be a reduction in price - forget it! This is a government that has never had its citizens in its sights, rather I almost feel that the coalition is punishing people when with more thought they could have better managed the country's debt without inflicting so much pain and real financial suffering. Surely, we cannot put up with this for another four years! Banks and now oil companies making billions with the support of successive governments from ordinary people!