Before the general election, there was a lot of speculation about the number of Budgets we might experience in 2015.
George Osborne had already delivered his pre-election Budget on 18th March, populated with positive news about the economy, a cut to the pension lifetime allowance and a new personal savings allowance of £1,000.
If the outcome of the election had been a Labour majority or a shaky coalition between various parties, we expected to see an ’emergency Budget’ held in the summer.
With a narrow Conservative majority, it appears that the Tories want to hold an emergency Budget regardless.
This will take place on Wednesday 8th July and has been called a “Budget for working people”.
Announcing the news of his second Budget in The Sun newspaper this weekend, Osborne said:
“On the 8th of July I am going to take the unusual step of having a second Budget of the year – because I don’t want to wait to turn the promises we made in the election into a reality … And I can tell you it will be a budget for working people.
“We’ll crack down hard on tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning by the rich – because everyone should pay their fair share.
“We will always protect the most vulnerable, but we also need a welfare system that’s fair to the people who pay for it. If you can work you should be working, so we’ll take the next steps in our benefit reforms to make sure that happens.”
Some of the Conservative manifesto promises which might feature in their second Budget of the year include increasing the income tax personal allowance to £12,500 and raising the 40% income tax threshold to £50,000.
It will be interesting to see how bold Osborne feels he can be in this Budget with the narrow majority commanded by the Conservatives.
This Budget might include details of how the Treasury will cut £10bn from the UK’s welfare bill and details of the other £2bn of public spending savings this government has pledged to make.
If Osborne remains true to form, the bulk of austerity measures are likely to come early in the life of the parliament, and then will be scaled back as we approach the next election in 2020.
Of course the promised referendum on our continued member of the European Union is likely to dominate this parliament, and also have a massive impact on the state of the economy and investment markets.
The Informed Choice team will be reviewing the second Budget of 2015 as it happens and will be on hand to answer your questions, summarise the main announcements and provide our opinions on the announcements.
