In my opinion the recent emergency Budget has been one of compromise, with the Lib Dems fighting for the poor on one side and the Tories fighting for the rich on the other.

Now I believe the Chancellor had a meeting with four previous Tory Chancellors before putting final pen to paper, and the general consensus from the old boys was that for the budget to have the desired corrective economic effect, he should expect nothing but a savage grilling from the press!

I would say that the emergency Budget has been relatively well received, so does that mean it’s not going to have the desired effect?

I must admit, I didn’t think the Budget was that bad, it could have been absolutely awful. If what I hear on the grapevine is true, had capital gains tax gone higher than 28%, the number of UK companies and entrepreneurs that would defect to lower tax nations would have had a substatial negative effect on forecasted tax receipts. So for me this calculation of rate setting is good economic policy, after all we need to retain and develop entrepreneurs, not drive them away.

One big positive to come out from the budget was the increase in the entrepreneurial tax relief threshold for business owners, increasing the 10% tax threshold on sale of their business from £2M to £5M. This can only encourage the next generation of employers and wealth creators to set up their business in the UK. This is vital for our economic recovery.

Fighting for the lower paid, the Lib Dems appeared to be punching above their weight, a big rise in the personal allowances from £6,475 to £7,475, taking nearly 1 million people out of the tax system, and a commitment to move towards a £10,000 personal allowance. Well done Vince and Co.

One area of taxation that we all expected to rise was VAT, so to increase it to 20% is not a shock at all and alligns us with other nations.

I was however dissapointed not to see a boost for the property market, which is still well an truly on it’s backside. I met with a local estate agent the other day who said that they have hardly any first time buyers on the books at the moment. To activate a much needed kick start for property market, we need to help those on the bottom rung of the ladder, and to not address this I felt was a missed opportunity. Maybe we could have had a government backed homebuyer scheme, more shared ownership, tax relief on mortgage payments (MIRAS?). We could have used many options to get this sector moving again, just kicking HIPS into the grass alone I’m afraid is not enough - get our state owned banks lending NOW!!!

So all in all I would say not bad, we all had to take a little medicine, it’s just the size of the spoon that counts!

With the talent in this country, I am sure if we all work hard enough we can get our economy off the critical list soon.

Your Trumpo.

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