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Stephanie,

On stamp duty changes: if the stamp duty is lowered all that will happen is that house prices will rise to adsorb the duty reduction.

So I disagree with your statement "That would push down the cost as well."

What he should do is announce a wage ceiling on all public sector workers - something high enough not to worry most people, say 200K, and to close all the gold-plated public sector pension scheme to new members. Not popular, but will save a great deal in the longer term.

'government's strategy for the recovery, which is to re-balance the economy away from consumption and debt - in favour of exports and investment.'

This government has no such strategy. All they have is spin. They've spent the last 13 years damaging both exports and investment and all they're promising is more of the same failed policies and the more of the same spin.

The only exports this government encourages are exports of jobs and talent.

'How will this square with all the talk about supporting jobs - and boosting private investment?'

'he'll want to show that boosting private investment is a higher priority than winning votes.'

We all want to see a boost to private investment so don't you think it would be useful if you could mention what this governments record has been over the last 13 years so we can judge their competence in this area. I mean if they've failed for the last 13 years then why on earth should we take seriously anything they say now ?

If you won't do so then perhaps I can help you out -

'The 5.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter reduction marked the sixth successive quarter of falls and triggered the steepest annual fall since records began in 1967'

'Official figures showed business investment in Britain falling by a record 24.1 per cent in the three-month period, compared with a year earlier'

'The ONS report showed manufacturing investment slumped 8.2 per cent on the quarter and 35.3 per cent on the year to £2.3 billion, while private-sector services investment fell 8.3 per cent in Q4'

You're right Steph. The stamp duty give away is entirely at odds with the government's policy to re-balance the economy away from consumption and debt - in favour of exports and investment.

But of course that's what they said six months ago. It sounded good then but they didn't mean it and indeed their attitude to the financial services sector tells us that they actually have no intention of rebalancing the economy. In fact if you look at some of the Govt's own contract awards (e.g. the light tank) it's obvious that the Govt is still intent on reducing manufacturing to a cottage industry.

strange how all the leaks are of good news (ish).

>>Mr Darling, we were told, was a man who sticks to the path he's set.

Now is a time to remember what is "paved with good intentions" !!

The best budget speech Darling could give is to stand up with his little red briefcase, open it, and show us there is nothing inside.

"This, citizens of Britain - is your Economy - Empty, devoid of substance but covered with a facade of red leather to give the impression there is something within. However as is this briefcase, even the facade is wearing thin and I don't know how much longer I can keep others from looking inside. Once the secret is out - then the markets will tear this country limb from limb in order to extract whatever value we have left"

...and with that - be the first chancellor to tender his resignation on Budget day - live at the box.

Then I shall have respect for him.

"1252 That cut for first-time buyers will be paid for by a hike in stamp duty to 5% for properties worth more than a million pounds. This is met with cheers from Labour MPs and stony faces from the Conservatives."

Looks like the rich are going nowhere then!

Ha Ha ha ha - class war - the only acceptable type of war.

"1257 Another policy confirmation - next month's planned 3p increase in fuel duty will be staged to soften the blow. It will go up by 1p in April, another 1p in October and a final 1p in January 2011."


...and then by 3p in April 2011!

You can't take this goon seriously, in his April 08 budget he was predicting 2.5-3% economic growth in lieu of Northern Rock 5 months later. The guy hasn't a clue, totally away from the pulse of reality

He hasn't had to make a penny in the real world himself and I'm totally mistrustful of a government that's idea of reinvestment was to slash against the wall the bonanza from mobile phone operating licences by increasing public sector departmental salaries to monitor and offer strategies for everybody else's efforts.

Stephanie,

the rise in stamp duty we assume will apply to commercial property as well as residential. We also assume that commercial property investors will aim to retain the yield profile in a purchase so the extra 1% stamp duty means the vendor will receive 1% less from a sale. this will have a direct impact on all the banks who are looking to dispose of property. Was this considered?

We are so intertwined with the good bad and indifferent economies of the world via derivatives yet the political thinking these days seems so UK centric as though we live in a bubble immune from things like Greece, Portugal and (pick any one of 6 others) defaulting.

If one of those weaker than us euro economies fails, all eyes would focus on the strategy of the next weakest ie the UK and we could well end up being downgraded by a credit rating agency too. If that happens, (and with such ginormous ongoing debt figures and over optimistic growth forecasts being banded about these days, why not) todays tinkering budget sums are all over the floor and we should all go and buy a gallon of hiked taxed cider to drown our sorrows.

Me and my 5 million co-shirkers can't wait to start our 1200 week paid holiday. Best not rock the boat......hope the loot doesn't really run out before 2020. .......off to the golf club now, it's been such a hectic week....what with all the worry that Alli would say something beastly today......