Judgment Day And Denial

The failure to present a Budget to the country is becoming a scandalous dereliction of duty. Instead of informing the country and our Parliament of the state of our finances and our economy with proposals on what is to be done, our Prime Minister and the Secretary for Industry have gone to a seaside resort in Chile for a private conference on 'progressive governance.'

Budget day is one of the key dates in the parliamentary year. (UK Parliament website) The Budget covers both the Government's taxation plans for the coming financial year and its assessment for the economy and public finances over the next few years. The Budget is announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the House of Commons where the Chancellor's speech is then followed by debate in Parliament on the measures which he has announced.

The announcement of the contents of the Budget and the details published in the Financial Statement and Budget Report (the red book) signals the release of a flood of information by the Government. News releases giving further details of the Chancellor's measures are put out by the major government departments. Information, including the Chancellor's Budget speech, news releases and the Financial Statement and Budget Report, is made available on the Internet.

Instead of working conscientiously with the Chancellor and the Cabinet on policies for our economic well being and the financial and tax climate in which our lives are undertaken, the Prime Minister has publicly subjugated such matters to the outcomes of a G20 meeting of the politicians of other states to whom we owe nothing and over whom we have no democratic control.