The Daily Novel

Buying and selling houses hasbeen taking so much of my time that I have scarcely had time to discover what Gordon Brown’s budget means for me, let alone the political and economic consequences. Trying to absorb it all this afternoon I think it is a devilishly clever budget. It has many things to please middle England, the Daily Mail and the Murdoch press. Like dropping the standard rate of income tax by 2 per cent to 20 per cent, which was John Major’s objective, and cutting 2 per cent off corporation tax, which pleases the business community.

Abolishing the 10 per cent income tax rate will hit a few poorish people, but not the poorest, who will not be paying any income tax at all. And it is a move in the direction of simplicity, which is a good thing in itself.

His introduction of specially generous personal allowances for people over 65 will be a significant help for those who need it. And his ingenious scheme to take back that allowance progressively as the pensioners annual income rises towards £20,000, strikes me as a move in the direction of social justice. After all many pensioners are quite comfortably off and some are very rich indeed.