George Osborne's budget 2016 giveaways 'mask £56bn black hole'

[unhappycamper]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/16/budget-2016-osbornes-giveaways-mask-56bn-black-hole

Chancellor announces eye-catching measures including sugary drinks levy and tax cuts, but Office for Budget Responsibility warns of fiscal hole

George Osborne's budget 2016 giveaways 'mask £56bn black hole'
Larry Elliott and Heather Stewart
Thursday 17 March 2016 03.10 EDT

George Osborne’s attempt to woo voters ahead of Britain’s EU referendum has come under immediate and intense scrutiny after he used a range of accounting devices to disguise a looming £56bn “black hole” in the government’s finances and deliver a promised surplus by the end of the decade.

Despite being faced with a markedly weaker outlook for the economy, the chancellor announced a range of eye-catching measures on Wednesday including a levy on sugary drinks, lower income tax bills, a cut in corporation tax and help for small businesses, in a budget he said would “put the next generation first”.

But Osborne’s plans were greeted with a degree of scepticism by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – the body he created in 2010 to provide independent forecasts for the economy and the public finances.

Wednesday’s statement was Osborne’s last before voters go to the polls to decide whether Britain will remain in the EU. A vote to leave would be widely expected to trigger a Conservative leadership contest, in which the chancellor would square up against Boris Johnson, the outgoing mayor of London and darling of grassroots Tory party members.