"And now for the Real Budget"

I have now sat through six Gordon Brown Budgets and the pattern is the same every time. Gordon mumbles through a complex list of technical detail - burying the bad news in boredom. Then he pulls a 'rabbit' or two out of the hat, the press say what a wonderful budget it is and then a week or two later when the details have been analysed they start - too late - to point out the various stealth taxes.

The only difference this year was that the press and public caught on the same day. Within 30 minutes of Brown sitting down, Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell, stood up to point out what the Budget really did.

First of course the truth was that over the next year (2007-2008) the total tax take would INCREASE by 1%. All the 'goodies' were actually in the future - not coming into effect until 2008, 2009, even 2010/2011.

Secondly the 'tax cuts'- when they did eventually happen - were actually no such thing as each one was offset by a hidden tax increase elsewhere. The 2p off Income Tax had Labour MP's cheering until the Lib Dem Leader pointed out that it was almost entirely countered by an INCREASE in Income Tax from abolishing the 10p starter rate. In other words the lowest paid were going to pay MORE TAX. Anyone earning under £15,000 per year will be WORSE OFF as a result of Gordon's cheap headline grabbing trick with stealth taxes. Changes to National Insurance payments will mean higher earners making up the rest of the so called tax cut.

The same applied to the cut in Corporation taxes for large businesses which will be paid for by INCREASING taxes on small businesses and by removing various tax breaks that businesses had.

So the story goes on with all the other details in the Budget. We still have the worst pensions in Western Europe. The gap between rich and poor is still getting wider with the poor paying a larger part of their income in tax than wealthier people do. Those who lost their Occupational Pensions (such as workers at Dema Glass and Chesterfield Cylinders) are still only getting a fraction of the money back from Gordon.

No wonder everyone on the doorstep is saying that "Brown is as bad as Blair."