Darling to give Budget on April 22
Budget will be the latest since 1997.
The 2009 Budget will be held on 22 April after the Easter recess of
Parliament, Chancellor Alistair Darling has said.
The Budget has been delayed until after the April meeting of the Group of 20
world leaders to discus the global economic crisis.
The Budget is expected to contain more measures to boost the economy and a
major revision to economic forecasts in the Pre-Budget report last November,
including the prediction that the UK economy will return to growth later this
year.
Many economists forecast that the economy will not start to recover until
2010.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the Commons Liaison Committee that the delay
will enable the Budget to take account of any G20 decisions.
He said: ‘I really hope on April 22 we can make some steps forward and how we
solve the problems will depend on the level of international cooperation.’
Budgets are normally held in March.
Budgets have been delivered later but in recent times usually only when a
general election has changed the party in power, as with Brown’s first budget in
July 1997.
The only other occasion was in 1945.