Budget Day

Today is Budget Day - and while it will be, as always, a great parliamentary occasion - few are looking forward to it. Good news is likely to be in scarce supply. This has been labelled by the Government as an "Emergency Budget". The last Government introduced its budget in March - but now the new administration wishes to substitute its budgetary measures.

A Budget speech normally has two distinct parts. The first part is a report on the current and forecast state of the British economy. Much of the detail is already available in the Office of Budget Responsibility's recent forecasts - and the Government has produced The Spending Review Framework

The second part of the speech deals with taxation.

After the speech has been delivered the Commons need to pass a Provisional Collection of Taxes motion - this allows the continuation of existing taxes and any new taxes or amendments to take effect - prior to the passing of the Finance Bill. Without it the changes couldn't take place.

There is an excellent House of Commons Standard Note on the Budget available here.