So we have the parts of the budget that the posh boys are willing to admit to, as we know the real shafting will come in the small print over the next couple of days. But here are some interesting bits and my comments for anyone interested.
Growth forecasts DOWN from 2.4% to 2% in 2016, from 2.5% to 2.2% in 2017 and from 2.4% to 2.1%in 2018. So the economic miracle that the Tories promised has pretty much been rubbish all along, who would have known.
£3.5 billion extra CUT by 2019/20. Scotland’s share will be around 1 BILLION, get ready boys more cuts on the way to vital services and much-needed jobs, I’m so glad the naysayers saved us from ourselves.
Debt target as percentage of GDP for this year MISSED Well strike me down, poor folk obviously not dying off at the rate the Tories and IDS hoped for.
Borrowing UP from £4.6 billion to £21.4 billion in 2018-19. Well what did you expect, the Windsor’s aren’t cheap you know.
Corporation tax CUT to 17%. Wow just when Google paid some tax we are giving them it back.
All schools to become academies. Barnett cuts anyone.
SUGAR LEVY on soft drinks. Another tax on the poor.
40p tax threshold RISES to £45,000 next year. So cuts to disability benefits pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Now a wee question for all the no voters, Better Together.
This is a typical budget from the Tories, never expected anything different. Of course the Liberal Democrats and Labour will be rehearsing that it’s the SNPs fault while telling us the broad shoulders of the UK have saved us. Wee Willie and KeZia will talk a lot of shit which will sound a lot like SNP bad SNP bad SNP bad and Ruthie will say that Scotland is better off as a result of this budget when what she really means is her friends are better off as a result of this budget and the gadgies need to get off their obese arse and get a job.
A disgusting budget from a disgusting Government, a disgusting party supported in Better Together by other disgusting parties and those with the heaviest load will carry the additional weight of those with the broadest shoulders. This UK union is a disgusting burden that we can no longer afford, heaven help us all over the next few years. Me, I fear the worst. The Tories and the other unionist parties are the scum of the earth.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
I couldn’t agree more. The cuts to disability benefits will be the cause of misery and deaths, just so tax and other changes can hand more money to people who don’t need it. This is the most disgusting UK government I have seen in my life.
I truly fear for my children and grandchildren. I am a reasonably comfortable pensioner (for now), but the destruction of a fair and reasonable state and society will affect us all except the wealthy who are running the place.
“No” voters – we warned you… They’re coming for you now.
An independent Scotland would not be perfect but it would have the potential to be far better than this poisonous Union.
Like you, I am pessimistic; but to paraphrase what Gramsci wrote in Mussolini’s prison, we must balance the pessimism of the intellect with the optimism of the will, and fight on.
East Neuker
People were warned, you are correct but like you i think this is the most digusting and blaltantly bias government I have ever experienced. Governments used to hide when they stole from the poor, now they do it to your face and challenge you to do something about it and a lot of that is down to the zero opposition they face from the other unionist parties and the unionist media. I often wonder what will it take for people to wake up and see what is being done to them. It’s very easy to lose hope in your fellow man, I am a pessimist by nature and plan to stay that way because it means I try to learn, I try to research and share what these people are doing in the hope that we educate the no voters, take their blinkers off so that the next time enough of them vote yes.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Reblogged this on Jim's space.
Better Together?
We have had 30 years of Scotland supporting a lame duck English economy through our oil and gas revenues and Westminster repays our generosity by reducing the amount of OUR money that we are allowed to spend on public services.
Broad shoulders are required to carry the mountainous debt they have racked up and that together with their spendthrift ways makes them a liability as a partner.
We would do better with,say,Germany as a partner albeit minus their global polluting car industry.
Who in their right mind would hook up with Westminster these days?
bringiton
The sad reality is that many don’t see what you see and continue to just accept their lot, I think we’re conditioned that way from school in this country. Your betters and all that. The budget is a joke but the one that really gets me is the fizzy pop tax, this will effect poor people the most and planks like Jamie Oliver have no bloody idea. Have you seen the amount of suagr in his stuff, this is basically the rich forcing the poor to behave in a the way that they want while getting them to pay more for the privilege, total joke of a country. The sooner we are independent the better.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
We have no democracy in the UK.
We have 56/59 MPs on our benches. They tried to get a better deal for us. They were outvoted by MPs form England Wales and NI.
If that’s what Scots want, with the attendant misery of a budget for the rich to encourage Mr Osborne’s chances of being the next prime minister, then so be it.
As The Windbag Kinnock once said… don;t get old, don;t get poor, don;t get sick.
I’m learning Swedish!
Tris
I get so frustrated when the naysayers continue to refuse to see what is right in front of them. We are all getting poorer, I am facing a 2000 pay cut at DCC if changes to terms and conditions get forced through,on top of NI changes and virtually no pay rise for years, we are all getting poorer. Add in the erosion of vital services and we are being driven back to a dark age. I hate this country and what do unionists do, nothing. This country is a shit hole.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
I wonder how the English council tax payers will feel when they have privately run acaemies, and councils deep in debt paying for the buildings that the privatized academies bought for pennies free and clear.
Not the way is will be? Then why is my council still in £50 million for the building of houses that were sold in the Thatcher era?
bjs
One of my concerns is if the money that goes to local councils for schools down south goes directly to the schools themselves does this effect the Barnett formula, I bet it does. If it does then the English will greatly reduce direct spending on education, schools might then start paying lower wages etc. Either way it will not be good for Scotland.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
We really are in a depressing situation. With every passing day I find that I dislike the words British, United Kingdom and Westminster even more. Don’t get me started on the bloody Union Jack! I still can’t believe I live in a country governed by Cameron, Osborne, Fallon and Fluffy…..
Lanark
I would tend to agree. Hate is a horrible word but I have come to hate pretty much everything about the political union and the unionist parties, they accuse the SNP of nationalism and sowing discord when you just have to watch an episode of QT to see how much people are lied to about the smelly Scots down south. This country, this UK, is a Disney land for the few and freaking nightmare for the many.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce