http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13405924_method=full_siteid=106694_headline=-%2D4BN%2DIRAQ%2DBILL%2DMAY%2DPUT%2D2P%2DON%2DYOUR%2DTAXES-name_page.html£4BN IRAQ BILL MAY PUT 2P ON YOUR TAXES
Sep 14 2003
By Chris Mclaughlin Political Editor
CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown has warned Tony Blair that the spiralling cost of Iraq threatens to blow the British economy off course.
In a move which reopens tensions between the two over Iraq, Mr Brown has delivered the Prime Minster a bombshell forecast that the military bill for the war and its aftermath will rise by £1billion to £4.5billion.
That is equivalent to more than 2p on income tax.
The increase will add to the Government's economic problems amid City predictions that Britain is heading deep into the red, with a national deficit of £40-£50billion.
Mr Brown is desperate to avoid tax increases or public spending cutbacks close to the election, expected in 2005.
But every extra billion on the public spending bill represents 2p on the income tax bill. The Chancellor was reticent about supporting the conflict in Iraq. Now he is worried that Mr Blair's support for more cash - pledged privately to President George Bush last week - will help scupper the Government's record on money management.
Fears over spending lay behind the recent decision to restrict extra troops for Iraq to 1,200 instead of the 5,000 which Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said were needed in a leaked memo.
Treasury concerns come amid warnings from the US that the final price tag in Iraq is "almost impossible to exaggerate".
:bounce:
Lets repeat that quote for everybody again
the final price tag in Iraq is "almost impossible to exaggerate".
:bounce:
Can we say the bucket has no bottom!