Verdict on the budget after the dust has settled

Hasn't the UK been fighting one war or another pretty much non-stop since the end of World War II? The war in Afghanistan, which I think "they" have decided is now over, went on much longer than World War II and recently there was also the invasion of Iraq, the first Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo and sundry bits of Middle Europe. The Falklands war was not, apparently, officially a war, but a skirmish so that's all right then. Earlier in my lifetime there were Kenya and Aden and probably other parts of the former Empire that I have now forgotten. Huge amounts of money and an awful waste of lives.

I really meant a war where we have to defend the UK itself. Or even Europe?

That's the sort of war when we get nuked, soon, instead of us using nuclear missiles everywhere else as absent says.

Nope.

No? How do you know, soon? Do you have special inside information?
Of course it hasn't happened yet. Otherwise we would not be having this conversation.

This is interesting.

https://fullfact.org/economy/budget_2015_net_debt_asset-40592

The debt is coming down because the government is selling off any assets we have left.

This hasnt really got anything to do with the op, but never mind.

They would know that the UK would nuke them back, so very pointless if you are trying to win a war.

Sorry. All this calm talk back and forth about about getting "nuked" is getting a bit surreal.

Carry on! Don't mind me.

You mentioned the war first, soon. Just saying that if there is one, it will not matter how much we owe.

Anyway, this is from the Full Fact report, as you obviously haven't bothered to read the link. It definitely has something to do with the op.

“The original debt target I set out in my first Budget has been met. We will end this Parliament with Britain’s national debt share falling”—George Osborne, 2015 Budget

For the first time since 2012, the government is forecast to meet its original debt target.

It had aimed to get public sector net debt falling as a share of GDP in 2015/16.

The December forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said this wasn’t going to happen. Yesterday’s forecast predicts that it will.

A few things have changed since December, but the main driver of this apparent success is the government’s decision to sell £20 billion worth of assets in 2015-16.

This means selling things like some of the government’s shares in Lloyds Banking Group.

But the OBR makes clear: “Financial asset sales bring forward cash that would otherwise have been received in the future in the shape of mortgage repayments and dividends, so they only temporarily reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio. In broad terms, they leave the public sector’s net worth unchanged.”

The Institute for Fiscal Studies agrees, saying this is “not a genuine reduction in government indebtedness”.

The debt is forecast to fall anyway from 2016/17, but the Chancellor’s announcement isn’t as exciting as it might seem.

This hasnt really got anything to do with the op, but never mind.

I meant the war stuff, not your link.

Well not embarking on expensive escapades in foreign countries, costing huge amounts of money – as well as immense suffering – would certainly help balance the books.

I think we have chaos under a conservative government.

We will have the dying years of DC's career as PM which will no doubt create much infighting; the insecurity of the referendum on the EU which will have companies holding back on the decisions they make or just deciding to go elsewhere and, while most areas of government has coped with the cuts so far, the pressure of new and greater ones may move them from creaking under the strain to continual breaks under the additional strain. We may also, sadly, be counting the bodies of those who are left outside the safety net system that was so carefully set up by our grandparents.

Basically - I fear another conservative government

GO thinks that he is too clever for his own good but in fact I think he is too dim for the country's good. He has with the help of the press talked the talk, but in fact has frequently cocked up, and shown extremely poor judgement.
A little man with a big head.

If Labour get more seats than the Conservatives they will form a coalition with the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond will lord it over us, I suppose if you are scottish you might want this, but I certainly don't they already get more money per head than us on this side of the border.

If Labour get more seats than the Conservatives they will form a coalition with the SNP

You state that as a fact magpie123 but it is actually only your opinion and, to note, it is not Ed Miliband's; he has already ruled it out. I do appreciate the right wing press likes to make out this is a threat but then they like to scare people don't they?

To be honest, living in Yorkshire and wanting a social democratic party in power, I envy the Scots having the SNP.

Going back to the point of the OP, as a small business owner, the budget did nothing for me at all. I am now spending hours trying to sort out the new Employees Pensions Scheme, all at my own cost. I am supportive of the principle of occupational pensions for all, but the costs of administering it are going to be proportionally high for small businesses without a HR department. So, not the budget did nothing for me, just facing up to more and more administration of government schemes at my expense.

The really weird thing is that during the Scottish referendum I couldn't stand Sturgeon or Salmond but now giving them more time and listening to what they have to say my opinion is changing a lot. Not that I agree with splitting up the union but the other stuff they chunter on about make a lot of sense.

Have to agree with that view (11:05:25) whitewave. I don't want the union split up either but do think that any improvement that has been made since the international crash and depression has been both London centric and rich centric so I can sympathise with them wishing for a government that considers them.

The Yorkshire Post seems to be running a "Minister for Yorkshire" campaign and I do think you could reduce the parliament and increase the role of the councils in order to make it a government of all the people.

GillT57 with your experience, what would help small businesses most and also is there any way they could be helped to pay the living wage by exempting them from other costs in some way?

Have you forgotten Ed Milliband stabbed his brother in the back, not to be trusted (of course in my opinion only!!!!!)

I fear another Labour Government - no matter who they are in cahoots with.

Have you forgotten Ed Milliband stabbed his brother in the back, not to be trusted (of course in my opinion only!!!!!)

Indeed it is just an opinion magpie123. I feel shades of some of the red top newspapers here. If he his brother had won would you be voting for the Labour party?

What actually happened was that two people, who happened to be brothers, both stood in completion in exactly the same way any other two MPs might have done. He did nothing untoward but he won. So what did he do wrong? Should he have stood down in favour of his brother. If so why should his brother not have stood down in favour of him? I find the idea that he stabbed him in the back quite puerile.

Why do you fear them Mollie65? The rich are 64% richer than before the recession, while the poor are 57% poorer so I think the poorer part of this nation have a lot to fear from a continued Conservative government and the rich a lot to fear from the possible consequential breakdown of society.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britains-divided-decade-the-rich-are-64-richer-than-before-the-recessionwhile-the-poor-are-57-poorer-10097038.html

I am very pleased with AgeUK.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/24/pensioners-mock-david-cameron-at-age-uk-conference-nhs

Shows the Tories cannot rely on pensioners as they thought.