Budget 2016: Osborne to focus on 'next generation' - but money is tight
16 March
George Osborne will give a Budget today that he will pitch as promoting the "life chances of the next generation", says the Financial Times.
As evidence, the newspaper cites the latest leak regarding a funding pledge of £1.5bn to enable schools to offer after-hours extra-curricular activities, as well as more promises on house building and home ownership and potentially targeted tax cuts to boost incomes.
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It is the schools plans that are making headlines this morning. Sky News says institutions will be able to pitch for a share of the money to offer new activities outside of normal school hours, with as many as one in four being able to get some support.
This is tied into wider proposals to turn all schools into academies by 2022, effectively removing them from local authority oversight. The National Union of Teachers derided the move as a step towards "privatisation", while Labour said the new funding only partially made up for budget shortfalls in the wake of cuts.
Austerity itself will be another central theme today, as Osborne is forced to operate within more constrained finances that he blames on a worsening global economic backdrop. The FT says the Chancellor will miss another of his own fiscal rules by failing to reduce debt as a proportion of GDP this year, while growth is likely to be downgraded.
As a result, the focus on his final and golden rule that government finances will be back into annual surplus by the end of this parliament is all the more important. To achieve it and fulfil his new pledges, he is expected to impose another £4bn of spending cuts and increase indirect taxes such as those on petrol, alcohol and insurance premiums.
In its response, Labour is expected to state that the failure of the Conservatives to hit their own budget targets proves austerity hasn't worked. There will almost certainly also be a strong criticism of recent cuts to disability benefits and revisions to the earnings disregard for working tax credits.
Elsewhere in the Budget today, look out for:
Check back here after 12.30pm for live updates.
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