Though the Chancellor had promised ahead of today’s announcement that there would be “No gimmicks. No giveaways” in Wednesday’s budget announcement, George Osborne appears to have offered some sweeteners to attract floating voters.

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The Chancellor said that as part of the reforms, farmers will be allowed to average their income over a five year period, which the NFU said will allow them to manage market volatility.
 
NFU president Meurig Raymond commented, “We are very pleased that Mr Osborne said that he had listened to the arguments by the NFU and will allow farmers to average their incomes over five years. As he mentioned in his speech, farmers are increasingly facing a volatile marketplace and this will enable them to manage the impacts of this,” said NFU President Meurig Raymond.”

The chancellor also raised the income tax allowance threshold to £10,800 from next year, and promised it will rise again to £11,000 in the following year, which will save money for some of the country’s lowest-earners.

Ahead of Wednesday’s Budget announcement, Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled a 20p rise in the minimum wage. This is the largest real-terms rise for over seven years, bringing the minimum wage up to £6.70 an hour. Rates for younger workers and apprentices will also rise.

However, since the chancellor’s speech, commentators have pointed out that the Office for Budget Responsibility warned that its analysis of policy commitments had proven difficult, as the budget had only been submitted a short time before its deadline, and that OBR figures show spending cuts are forecast to surpass anything seen so far.

Speaking ahead of the budget announcement Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said, “This Budget cannot hide the fact that after five years of the Tories working families are worse off and our NHS is going backwards. The Tories are planning more extreme spending cuts after the election, which go way beyond balancing the books and will put our NHS at risk.

“George Osborne gives with one hand, but takes away much more with the other. His tax and benefit changes since 2010… have cost families on average £1127 a year. No pre-election tax cut can make up for that.”