Pre-Budget report 2006 - Politics
Resources
No 10’s PR machine goes into overdrive
Franctic efforts by spin doctors to control the day’s news saw Brown hit the broadcast studios at an early hour
Call to boost online government services
A new system to allow companies and citizens to do almost all their business with government through two web sites was called for by Sir David Varney, the former head of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
Osborne launches Brown broadside
The economic battlelines on which the Tories will seek to fight Gordon Brown at the general election clearly emerged as they attacked both his track record and his environmental credentials
Tougher penalties for rogue employers
Tougher measures to deal with rogue employers who illegally pay workers less than the minimum wage are to be introduced.
Council funding report delayed again
The much-delayed report by Sir Michael Lyons into the funding of local government has been further delayed, and is now expected to be published by the time of the March Budget.
£1bn for new health research body
Britain should aim to lead the world in developing new treatments and drugs, the chancellor said as he announced the government would set up a central body to oversee health research in hospitals and universities.
State school spending criticised
Plans to raise state school spending to that of the private sector are criticised by experts who say the extra money represents a fall in recent rates of growth
Schools at the heart of Brown’s PBR plans
Gordon Brown will put fresh investment for schools at the heart of the pre-Budget report as he tries to set the battleground for his looming clash with David Cameron.
It’s the politics that count as Brown eyes No10
When Gordon Brown gives a speech, here is one quip even this famously dour chancellor delights in delivering. ‘There are two types of finance minister,’ he deadpans. ‘Those whose careers end in failure and those who get out in time.’
Demand-led approach to skills urged
Employers should be given almost total control over the national skills budget and the design of vocational courses that are paid for by state money, the Leitch Review recommended.
