Today is the day for Alistair Darling!
Alistair Darling will today deliver his pre-election budget with rumours and counter rumours circulating around Westminster regarding the details of his briefing this afternoon. However, one thing seems to becoming more and more certain which is the fact that the UK government is determined to push through with significant public sector investment and refuses to cut back in the short to medium term. So how will this impact upon investment markets?
Investment markets have been calling for the government to introduce a tougher plan to reduce the UK budget deficit and UK national debt overall. However, so far Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have refused to budge on this particular issue, something which has had an impact upon sterling which has been under pressure for some time. So how long can the government afford to hold off from publishing details about future public sector investment cuts?
There is no doubt that clarification of public sector investment cuts in the future is required today although whether we will see this ahead of the election, with the unions pushing the government to retain public sector investment, remains to be seen. There has been further speculation in the press today regarding the unions and their power over the Labour Party which is almost certain to filter through to voters in the UK.
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