March 2010 United Kingdom budget

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March 2010 United Kingdom Budget
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
Presented24 March 2010 (Wednesday)
Parliament 54th
Party Labour
Chancellor Alistair Darling
Total revenue£541 billion
Total expenditures£704 billion
Deficit £163 billion
  2009

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. [1]

Contents

The budget speech outlined the Labour Government's fiscal policies prior to the 2010 general election, which had to be called before July. It was also the last budget delivered by Labour until October 2024.

The Budget's main headlines included:

The Chancellor aimed for public sector net borrowing to fall to 8.5% of GDP by 2011-12, and 4.0% by 2014-15. Public sector net debt was projected to increase to 73% of GDP by 2012-13.

The Treasury published the Finance Act 2010 on 1 April, running to 240 pages. [4] After the General Election was called on 6 April, the Chartered Institute of Taxation expressed concern at the lack of time for debate on complex measures. [5] In the event, many of the clauses announced in the Budget speech were dropped from the Bill before Parliament was dissolved. [6]

Taxes

Receipts2010-10 revenues (£bn)
Income tax146
Value added tax (VAT)78
National insurance97
Excise duties46
Corporate tax42
Council tax26
Business rates25
Other81
Total Government revenue541

Spending

Department2010-10 expenditure (£bn)
Social protection196
Health122
Education89
Debt interest43
Defence40
Public order and safety36
Personal social services33
Housing and environment27
Transport22
Industry, agriculture and employment20
Other74
Total Government spending704

References

  1. "Budget 2010". BBC News. 24 March 2010. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  2. HM Treasury, Budget 2010 Annex C
  3. Chancellor set to announce basic bank accounts for all Archived 2013-01-16 at archive.today allaboutmoney.com, 24 September 2012
  4. Finance Bill out with just days to make it law Archived 2010-04-05 at the Wayback Machine , Accountancy Age, 1 April 2010
  5. Just a few hours of scrutiny for Finance Bill as Election announced Archived 2012-07-19 at archive.today , Accountancy Age, 6 April 2010
  6. Finance Bill carved out in deadline scramble Archived 2010-04-12 at the Wayback Machine , Accountancy Age, 7 April 2010