The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to Chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the chancellor is a high-ranking member of the British Cabinet.
Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1987 until he stepped down in 2015, most recently for Edinburgh South West.
A spending review, or occasionally a comprehensive spending review, is a governmental process in the United Kingdom carried out by HM Treasury to set firm expenditure limits and, through public service agreements, define the key improvements that the public can expect from these resources.
In the UK tax system, personal allowance is the threshold above which income tax is levied on an individual's income. A person who receives less than their own personal allowance in taxable income in a given tax year does not pay income tax; otherwise, tax must be paid according to how much is earned above this level. Certain residents are entitled to a larger personal allowance than others. Such groups include: the over-65s, blind people, and married couples where at least one person in the marriage was born before 6 April 1935. People earning over £100,000 a year have a smaller personal allowance. For every £2 earned above £100,000, £1 of the personal allowance is lost; meaning that incomes high enough will not have a personal allowance.
Gordon Brown's term as the prime minister of the United Kingdom began on 27 June 2007 when he accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, replacing Tony Blair, and ended on 11 May 2010 upon his resignation. While serving as prime minister, Brown also served as the first lord of the treasury, the minister for the civil service, and the leader of the Labour Party. He and Blair both extensively used the New Labour branding while in office, which was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics, though Brown's style of government differed from that of his predecessor. Brown is the most recent Labour politician as well as the most recent Scottish politician to hold the office of prime minister.
The loss of United Kingdom child benefit data was a data breach incident in October 2007, when two computer discs owned by HM Revenue and Customs containing data relating to child benefit went missing. The incident was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, on 20 November 2007. The two discs contained the personal details of all families in the United Kingdom (UK) claiming child benefit, of which takeup in the UK is near 100%.
The starting rate of income tax, known as the 10p rate, was a special rate of personal income taxation in the United Kingdom that existed from 1999 to 2008.
The Eddington Transport Study is an examination, by Sir Rod Eddington, of the impact of transport decisions on the economy and the environment of the United Kingdom, with recommendations on how the transport network should be modernised. The study was commissioned by the UK government, and a report of the study was published by them on 1 December 2006.
In the period September 2007 to December 2009, during the events now widely known as the Global Financial Crisis, the UK government enacted a number of financial interventions in support of the UK banking sector and four UK banks in particular.
The March 2010 United Kingdom Budget, official known as Budget 2010: Securing the recovery, was delivered by Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 24 March 2010.
The 2007 United Kingdom Budget, officially known as Budget 2007: Building Britain's long-term future: Prosperity and fairness for families, was formally delivered by Gordon Brown in the House of Commons on 21 March 2007. It would turn out to be Brown's last Budget as Chancellor of the Exchequer, becoming Prime Minister on 27 June 2007.
The Budget of His Majesty's Government is an annual budget set by HM Treasury for the following financial year, with the revenues to be gathered by HM Revenue and Customs and the expenditures of the public sector, in compliance with government policy. The budget statement is one of two statements made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the House of Commons, with the Spring Statement being made the following year.
Gordon Brown served as Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. His tenure was marked by major reform of Britain's monetary and fiscal policy architecture, transferring interest rate setting powers to the Bank of England, by a wide extension of the powers of the Treasury to cover much domestic policy and by transferring responsibility for banking supervision to the Financial Services Authority. Brown presided over the longest period of sustained economic growth in British history. He had previously served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Tony Blair Shadow Cabinet from 1994 to 1997. As Shadow Chancellor, Brown as Chancellor-in-waiting was seen as a good choice by business and the middle class.
The April 1979 United Kingdom budget was delivered by Denis Healey, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 3 April 1979. It was the first of two budgets to be presented to Parliament in 1979, and the last to be presented by Healey and the Labour Government of James Callaghan. It was also the last Labour budget to be presented until 1997.
The 1998 United Kingdom budget was delivered by Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 17 March 1998. It was the second budget to be presented by Brown following Labour's 1997 general election win, and sought to maintain the broad public support given to Labour in 1997 by announcing measures that would appeal to those who had voted the party into office. One of the key features of the 1998 budget was the Working Families Tax Credit, a benefit that could be claimed by families on low income. Brown also announced tax cuts for businesses, the launch of a £50m rural transport fund, and committed to taxing child benefit at a future date.
The 1995 United Kingdom budget was delivered by Kenneth Clarke, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 28 November 1995. It was Clarke's third budget, and one of the shortest budget speeches in modern history. In his statement, Clarke reduced the middle rate of income tax by 1p to 24p, and after announcing that his spending reductions for the previous year had exceeded expectations by more than £3bn, announced plans to increase spending on healthcare, education and policing. His budget was criticised by members of the Conservative Party for not including more tax cuts, while Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown of the Labour Party dismissed it as "the 7p up, 1p down budget".
The November 1993 United Kingdom budget was delivered by Kenneth Clarke, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 30 November 1993. It was the second budget to be presented in 1993, and the first to be presented by Clarke following his appointment as Chancellor by Prime Minister John Major earlier that year. The November 1993 budget was also the first in the modern era to be held in the autumn, the government having decided to move the date of the budget so it could outline its tax and spending plans at the same time.
The 1991 United Kingdom budget was delivered by Norman Lamont, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 19 March 1991. It was Lamont's inaugural budget following his appointment as chancellor by Prime Minister John Major, and the first to be presented following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister the previous autumn.
The 1980 United Kingdom budget was delivered by Geoffrey Howe, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 26 March 1980. It was the second budget to be presented by Howe since his appointment as chancellor the previous year, and was noted for the number of leaks that appeared in the press before it was delivered. There were broad reductions in public spending, but increases in spending on policing and the military. Prescriptions were increased from 45p to £1, while benefits for striking workers were cut. Labour Party leader James Callaghan, the Leader of the Opposition, called it the most divisive budget since 1931.
