Date set for UK budget

Published on Wednesday 10 March 2010 10:05

THE Budget will take place in two weeks, Gordon Brown confirmed today as he made a key speech pledging to pull the economy through the "storm" of recession.

The March 24 date will make a May 6 general election even more likely.

Mr Brown was speaking at Thomson Reuters in Canary Wharf, in London's Docklands, the venue where Tory leader David Cameron attacked Labour's record on the economy last week.

Mr Brown said that the Government remains committed to halving Britain's record 178 billion deficit within four years.

He announced a "pay freeze" for senior staff in the Civil Service, the military top brass, judges, and consultants, GPs, dentists and senior managers in the NHS.

Following on from the freeze on parliamentary and ministerial salaries for all Government ministers which he announced last week, Mr Brown said the curbs on public sector pay would save more than 3 billion by 2013-14.

However he stressed that while the worst of the recession is over, the economic recovery remains "fragile" and could be undermined if spending cuts were pushed through too quickly.

"In my view we are nearly there in repairing the global financial system. But there is nothing pre-ordained or automatic about the upturn, either here or around the world," he said.

"While we have come through the worst of this dreadful storm, the waters are still choppy. There are still real risks to the recovery."

He said withdrawing the Government support put in place after the financial collapse of 2008 "too rapidly and recklessly" could still drive the UK back into recession.

"Do we let the progress of recovery be overwhelmed by an ideologically driven programme to cut the responsibilities of government regardless of economic circumstances – or do we hold firm to our carefully constructed deficit reduction plan?" he said.