Portrait of the week | 21 March 2013

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In what he called a ‘fiscally neutral’ Budget, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, confronted a reduced forecast of gross domestic product for 2013 from 1.2 per cent to 0.6 per cent and a further delay until 2017-18 in reducing the burden of public sector debt, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. Most government departments would have to cut a further 2 per cent of their spending over the next two years, saving about £2.5 billion. Changes in state pensions, introduced a year earlier than expected, would save the Treasury almost £6 billion a year by 2016-17, some of it to be used for infrastructure spending. The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee would be given a new remit beyond inflation targets and ‘intermediate thresholds’ countenanced. An onslaught on ‘aggressive’ tax avoidance was promised. Employers were offered an allowance of £2,000 from National Insurance payments. Corporation tax would come down by another 1 per cent to 20 per cent by 2015.