In his budget speech, George Osborne confirmed that although the
deficit is down by a third, there is still a long way to go. The
budget therefore is about economic security, and has support for
savers at its centre. The good news is that the Office for Budget
Responsibilty (OBR) has confirmed growth predictions of 2.7% for
this year (compared to 0.6% a year ago) and, by later in 2014, the
UK economy should have grown to the point where it is larger than
it was before the economic meltdown six years ago.
The Chancellor's speech today followed a fairly well-worn
path when it comes to recent government announcements and
initiatives around infrastructure investment. It combined
impressive and welcome statements of intent with a marked reticence
to give substantive detail as to exactly how and when Britain will
really begin to make inroads into addressing the oft-mentioned
years of slow decline in our essential economic
infrastructure.
