Biting Back Against the Budget

19 May 2012

As the famous saying goes, the devil is in the detail - and that is rarely more true than when it comes to the Government's annual budget, delivered last week by Chancellor George Osborne.

It's always full of impressive-sounding headline figures, deliberately calculated to draw attention away from the bad news, but as the dust settles, it still remains to be seen exactly what impact the budget will have on the average Northumberland family.

One overriding message that stood out for me was that the national debt - which nobody denies has to be serviced and reduced - is scheduled to be reduced by £93billion by 2016 and means we can probably expect at least another five years of reduced public spending. While we are hopefully through the worst of it, we've still got some tough times ahead.

There was a fuel tax cut of 1p per litre, but that feels like literally a drop in the ocean - or the Gulf - when rural areas have recently been paying up to £1.40 per litre already and a 4p rise will take place in April 2012. Yes, every penny counts, but running a car is still incredibly expensive and public transport in areas such as Morpeth and Ashington still feels inadequate at times.

That's not to say it all sounded bad, and there were some encouraging signs for families and businesses in Northumberland. Hopefully many will benefit from a Government-backed shared equity scheme to help 10,000 first-time buyers nationally, council tax will either be frozen or reduced this year across every English council, personal tax allowances will increase and 40,000 extra apprenticeships will be created for young people currently out of work.

Meanwhile, £350million worth of business regulation is to be scrapped and no new regulations will be introduced to firms with fewer than 10 employees for three years - both of which should be significant news for current and future small rural enterprises.

While we will have to wait and see exactly how our county will fare as result of last week's budget announcements we can only hope that these plans will help Northumberland residents to live more comfortably as the country continues to battle against the deficit.

As these difficult times continue Northumberland residents can contact DAWN Advice for free support and legal advice on a range issues, including debt, housing, employment, welfare benefits and family law, through the new advice line on 0844 4111 309.