Budget deception

Daily Mail
"Britain national debt is fast heading towards £1.4trillion and, this year, the Treasury expects to borrow £178billion.The markets are in a febrile state and - should drastic action not to be taken to reduce the deficit immediately after the election - investors are expected to pummel the already weak pound.So what is the latest response of the Government which did so much to get us into this mess?On Thursday, in a quite extraordinary intervention, Treasury Chief Secretary Liam Byrne said there would be no new tax rises to pay back our horrendous national debt.Now it is being revealed that, having found itself £3billion less in debt than expected, the Treasury plans to blow this money on pre-election Budget bribes.In many ways, this Budget is an irrelevance, so close to an election which may render its contents redundant.But the Chancellor's overall message will be crucial in defining the choice faced by the electorate.Does it want a Tory Party which, while vague on detail, is honest about the need to make spending cuts to ensure Britain's long-term economic health.Or a Labour Party which is living in cloud cuckoo land or - worse - is prepared to cynically deceive voters about tax rises and cuts which are inevitable whoever wins the election and, if fudged, will condemn the country to decades of poverty.