Promising Progressive Priorities Unveiled Ahead of Anderson's First Budget
With a new occupant in 11 Downing Street
and another at Number 10, November 5th will perhaps be the most anticipated budget day since New Labour took office. The new man in the job, Jack Anderson, is a pupil of Gordon Brown, but with a distinct personal profile that includes high-profile advocacy for fairer taxes and against regional inequality. Anderson shows a lot of promise for progressive policy in Britain now that four years of Gordon Brown in the Treasury have brought Britain's financial house back in order. With boom and bust abolished, now would be the time for priorities like Anderson's to come to the fore.
Treasury sources suggest progressives will be right to have high hopes in the new man. There will, from what these sources are telling us, be a marked shift towards more progressive priorities. Britain can afford to do all this thanks to the sound management of New Labour - and now's the time to cash in, it seems.
Perhaps most important of all, our sources suggest that the Chancellor will be unveiling 'unprecedented' investment in the NHS. It is expected that the Budget will see the unveiling of a major investment package set to last the life of this Parliament and start this year. Such is much-needed: Labour's reforms have greatly improved the NHS, but there's always a call for further investment in our world-class healthcare system. To bring down waiting lists and increase quality, funds of the magnitude we are led to expect by the choice of words would be very welcome.
The Chancellor's commitment to fairer taxes will also shine through in the budget, we are told. The promised policy to 'overhaul' property taxes to be fairer and more progressive, immediately brings to mind the impressive speech he gave last year, in which he argued that it was high time that the wealthy paid their fair share into the public purse. We quite agree, and would be happy to see the budget mark the start of a serious plan to not just overhaul property tax (as is expected), but the entirety of our tax system.
We are led to expect that this budget will be a forward-looking one, too, by briefings on the government's new innovation strategy. There's talk of no less than an 'R&D revolution' being on the cards, that will funnel 'hundreds of millions' in to research and development. Our source even boasted that in this budget, Britain will be investing more in its economy than investing in interest payments. Such action to ensure Britain remains at the cutting-edge of research and development will greatly increase the future competitiveness and health of our economy going forward - and is New Labour at its finest.
They've sorted out the finances, and while the Tories seem to be in a state of permanent indecision as to whether to tack into the progressive wind or keep clinging to the outdated prescriptions that brought our economy to its knees, Labour now lets Britain reap the rewards. We are eager to see the rest of this budget - and, indeed, the rest of what seems to be a promising, progressive tenure from our new Chancellor.