Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling clash on tax cuts
As Gordon Brown gets ready to return from the G20 summit it seems as though he has plans to introduce tax cuts for Christmas. If the rumours are correct it looks as though the less wealthy will be the main benefactors of a potential £15 billion giveaway although there appears to be some friction between Downing Street and the Treasury.
Alistair Darling has finally expressed his concern at the fact that UK borrowing will increase even further to fund these tax cuts which many see as a potential "bribe" to voters. The £15 billion figure being mentioned works out at £500 for each and every family in the UK although it will not be spread amongst all of the population. There is a concern that the potential giveaway will be in some way targeted at a potentially sensitive political group of the population.
The last thing that the government can afford at the moment is a potential fallout between the Treasury and Downing Street and the potential implications it would have in the short to medium term. We saw enough of this in the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown era and the UK voter would not be happy to see a rerun.
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