Chancellor Gordon Brown on Wednesday laid out the budget plans for 2007. While his intentions may have been to “expand prosperity and fairness for Britain's families,” there was a bigger motive behind it all.
That motive was to appeal to majority of Britons to win back support from his opponent David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party. Not a bad stunt, Chacellor!
After 10 years in power, the ruling Labour party is trailing terribly in the polls and is trying its best to be in the power after Tony Blair resigns in September. Majority of Britons have condemned the government for the Iraq war, hike in council taxes and scandals involving the “cash-for-honours.”
Cameron has battered Brown's support in polls both in popularity and reputation for managing the world’s fifth-largest economy. An opinion poll by ICM Ltd. showed 41 percent of voters support the Conservatives while Labour had 31 percent.
The Treasury, which has been in deficit for the past five years, is struggling to pay for Brown’s programs while meeting rules to keep a lid on debt. The government's deficit will total 118 billion pounds in the fiscal years through April 2011. In December, when Brown announced an extra 7 billion pounds in borrowing, he said there would be a 108 billion-pound shortfall over that period.
While Brown is appealing hard to gain votes, he really needs to convince Britons that he will be able to make a difference in their lives. Making an excellent speech isn’t going to trick many, he needs to convince the people that he is here to make a difference and will “build a stronger shared national consensus around future priorities,” as he promised in his speech. Easier said than done - good luck, Chacellor!
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