[The Weeping Angel]

I see Labour want to kill family farms.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I'm not sure I agree with Luke Tryl there. A million pounds is quite a lot of money to get tax free. I can see this being another rabbit hole the Telegraph goes down, thinking its readers are public opinion. It may need to be adjusted upwards slightly, I don't know what farms cost. Won't this lower the price of them as fewer people snap them up to avoid inheritance tax?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Maybe some of the bigger farms will be split up to avoid inheritance tax? Won't that be good for family farmers?

[Abernathy]

Whatever one's opinion of the announcement, it will still be attacked by the opposition parties and the press.

Yes, I’ve also heard that the Pope is in fact of the Catholic faith.

No income tax rises nor a wealth tax on the better off.

Sticking to election manifesto pledges.

The extra funds allocated to rebuild our public services is nowhere hear (sic)enough.

This the first year of a new Labour government. In fact, it’s the first three months of that government. Starmer and Reeves have spoken at length about their ten year mission to re-build Britain. This is just a start, and a pretty good one. An immediate £25.7 billion for the NHS and a long term plan to be announced in the spring looks like a very good first step to me.

Winter Fuel Allowance restriction is still in place.

Of course it is. I note that you’ve stopped describing it as having been removed. Progress, I dare say.

It will be more expensive for people to travel to and from work and leisure.

You’re talking about the bus fares cap again? As I (already) explained, the Tories had intended to scrap the fares cap altogether in January of this year, which would probably have resulted in even higher fares than just increasing the cap by £1.

To me, most of it still looks like an austerity budget.

Nonsense. Go back and look at what Cameron, Clegg, and Osborne did from 2010 to 2016 if you want to see what austerity looks like.

[Andy McDandy]

Trots I know are already working themselves into knots about taxes on second home stamp duty and share transactions. Some going with too little/St Jez would have doubled it. Others with this is all a sham to lull us into a false sense of security.

[Bones McCoy]

[kreuzberger]

I'm with Nev on this one. Today would not have been a day too soon to see these entitled pricks not just smarting but writhing in agony.

[The Weeping Angel]

I'm not sure how raising the national minimum wage is a sign of austerity. But I'm sure that Captain Obvious will explain it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

One of Reeves' advisors is John Van Rennen, who has criticised tax breaks for family run firms before. He seems to think that the tax breaks incentive mediocre performance- Germany and the US don't have those breaks.

[Youngian]

The trots are starting to speak their brains.

Blakely, of course, doesn’t go into any detail about what she’d do instead. That might require actual analysis instead of regurgitating cliff notes of Das Kapital as sound bites for her book tour.

If only those who step up to run the country possessed the economic and administrative genius of Richard Murphy. Is there anything he doesn't know?

[Tubby Isaacs]

2 years freeze of Local Housing Allowance. That's objectively bad, though I declare an interest.

[Tubby Isaacs]

If only those who step up to run the country possessed the economic and administrative genius of Richard Murphy. Is there anything he doesn't know?

He's saying there wasn't enough borrowing? I think the rise in rates will come out in the wash, but I think the concerns are pretty "real world".

[Crabcakes]

That ‘austerity budget’ in full:

The well off are bearing more of the burden, and everyone else is better off. The markets like it, the unions like it, the Tories hate it.

Job done as far as I can see.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Hannah Forde
‪@hannahforde.bsky.social‬

Follow
Buried in the budget announcements is the news that the govnt plan to uprate the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and review its exemptions.

This is likely to be good. And even better if expanded across other foodstuffs, but you can understand why they didn't do that all in the first budget.

[Youngian]

Farmers already transfer land into a trust as part of some tax avoidance wheeze.

[Youngian]

So the budget is an economically modest amd politically uncontroversial affair that's unlikely to delight or spook markets.

[Tubby Isaacs]

One thing not mentioned in the budget (because it was a Tory policy) is double council tax on second homes. Every district council in Kent has voted to do this, even though it's not the most affected area- people from Kent are I'd guess more likely to own second homes elsewhere. It's not starting till the next financial year, and it's bringing in £3.77m. I'd guess a few areas are getting a lot more in than that. All useful money.

Think we did mention it here the other day.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Herefordshire doing this, and projects about £12m proceeds from it. Cornwall expected to be the biggest beneficiary (£27m).

Some credit to Gove is due for this.

[Killer Whale]

One thing not mentioned in the budget (because it was a Tory policy) is double council tax on second homes. Every district council in Kent has voted to do this, even though it's not the most affected area- people from Kent are I'd guess more likely to own second homes elsewhere. It's not starting till the next financial year, and it's bringing in £3.77m. I'd guess a few areas are getting a lot more in than that. All useful money.

Think we did mention it here the other day.

Fine policy. Except in Wales, where it's apparently 'racist' because it's English people who have the second homes.

[Dalem Lake]

2 years freeze of Local Housing Allowance. That's objectively bad, though I declare an interest.

Unfortunately I don't think the government really give a shit about sorting out the safety net. I mean, they're obviously not going with the Tory "scrounger" rhetoric, but they haven't shown any interest in sorting out the DWP or even looking at the punitive regime designed by George Osborne. They just want to go after fraud* and get people off the sick. Got to wait for the actual plans of course, but I suspect with regards to benefits it's going to be same as it ever was.

*actually it's called "fraud and error", but politicians always seem to miss out the error part. The error is usually people straying over the low capital limit, which hasn't been raised for some 20 years at least.