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IFS Green Budget
The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has published its ‘Green Budget’ today. It reveals that taxes have gone up by £40 billion since 1997. That is a total of £1,300 for every family in the country. Since 2005 Gordon Brown has announced £6 billion of new tax increases but what do we have to show for it? The NHS is in financial meltdown and our prisons are bursting at the seams. To make matters worse the IFS predicts that the tax burden will increase by £13 billion over the next five years – that is the equivalent of £422 for every household.
In his 10 budgets since becoming Chancellor Gordon Brown has shown an insatiable desire to raise taxes and has demonstrated little sympathy for average families who are already struggling under the burden of soaring fuel bills, interest rate rises and inflation.
Of course the Treasury has disputed the IFS’s findings stating the figures are ‘incorrect and that it is ridiculous to suggest families are worse off’. But the IFS is a highly respected body once described as ‘an institution that is rigorous in research, proudly impartial and objective in analysis’. The person that said that – Gordon Brown MP. We will find out in March if he has listened to their advice.
Posted in Gordon Brown on 31 January 2007 by David Ruffley
Gordon Brown in India
It is interesting to see Gordon Brown talking as if he is the next Prime Minister about world issues, Mahatma Gandhi, security and the environment.
He is obviously talking about the right issues but I’m not convinced he is completely at ease with himself in his new role as world statesman. To my mind words like that sound more convincing in the mouth of a young politician who is more 21st Century.
Having challenged Gordon Brown face to face for several years on the Treasury Select Committee I must confess I never heard him express any enthusiasm about the green debate and environmental taxation. His new found enthusiasm does not quite ring true. He is a bit of a Gordon-come-lately to this issue.
I think that the most striking thing is how completely bemused he was when asked about Big Brother. National Journalists who I know were convinced he had never watched it and did not understand why the Big Brother row had caused such a storm.
If Gordon Brown is to be the next Prime Minister, as he himself believes, he needs to get out of the 20th Century and into the 21st.
Posted in Gordon Brown on 19 January 2007 by David Ruffley