British Chambers of Commerce warn Chancellor
The British Chambers of Commerce has today warned Chancellor Alistair Darling that there must be no "sacred cows" when the pre-budget report is announced this week. Despite the fact that the public sector is the obvious area for substantial cost savings there are concerns that the budget report may well be heavily influenced by the fact the general election will be next year and the government needs to maintain popularity amongst voters.
Alistair Darling is in a very tricky situation because he needs to be seen to be "doing the right thing" while at the same time he needs to at least give the government a fighting chance of competing at the next election. It will be interesting to see how he plans the "economic road ahead" because many credit reference agencies are concerned about the ever-growing debt in the UK and the state of the UK economy. While it is unlikely that the UK investment rating will be downgraded, unless we see some massive unforeseen drop in economic activity, the UK has been at the sharp end of a number of negative articles and negative comments from these agencies.
It has to be said that this week's pre-budget report is by far and away Alistair Darling's most challenging project to date.
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