“Like a man treading water” was one description of Alistair Darling’s first ever Budget at the House of Commons yesterday. That may have been so, and even though the delivery was as dull as dishwater, there were still some reasons to be upbeat.
Child Poverty, and it’s eradication, featured extremely highly on the Government’s agenda, and was one of the main issues for the coming year. Changing rules for housing and council tax benefit starting in 2009 mean parents will be better off in work than on benefits Child benefit payments for the first child is to increase to £20 a week from April 2009, which is a year earlier than planned, with parents who are in work being rewarded further. Changes to tax credits meaning families with two children earning £28,000 a year will be better off by £130 a year.
The Government also plan to spend a further £8billion on affordable housing over the next 3 years. Sites have already been identified to build 70,000 new homes by 2020 on top of 40,000 new homes already planned by that date, putting the Government back on track with their plan to eradicate child poverty by 2020. Hand in hand with all the newly affordable property being built see’s a new stamp duty scheme on shared-ownership properties, with new owners not being required to pay the duty until they own 80% of the equity. All this seems admirable enough, but you do get the feeling the Government were forced into dealing with these issues sooner rather than later, mostly due to the ticking child poverty clock set by Mr. Blair and a certain Mr. Brown some years ago
“Not green enough!” was the cry from some enivornmental charities, but in fairness we may be about to see an unprecedented change. Next year’s Budget will feature a “Carbon Budget”, specifically designated to the U.K’s. target to cut emissions by 2022. The climate change levy, designed to encourage businesses to cut energy usage, will rise in line with inflation from April, with plans for 1m new jobs in environmental industries in the next two decades.
It was also stated that all non-domestic buildings will have to be zero-carbon by 2019, on top of the already announced target for all new homes by 2016, though whether this is possible remains to be seen, though the £20m in funding for the green homes initiative to help cut emissions and fuel bills may help. Plus a nice little incentive for buyers of emission-free apartments will be a saving of up to £15,000 in stamp duty tax payments.
As predicted, road tax prices will now be banded by what kind of gas guzzler you’re driving. You can expect to pay a much higher rate of duty in the first year for the most polluting car from 2010, but those with the lowest emissions will pay no tax in the first year. This seems fair, though the sense in hiking up air travel tax yet endorsing airport expansion seems a tad contradictory.
But Mr. Darling does seem to be doing his bit for the environment, though whether it is big enough remains to be seen. Saying “we are the first government anywhere in the world to introduce legal targets compelling us to take action to cut carbon emissions’ may sound impressive, but predicted figures claim the targets being put into place will only reduce carbon emissions by as little as 5% over the next 7 years.
