'Tough time' ahead for Osborne

Experts from the tax profession regard the next few months as a critical time
for new chancellor George Osborne as he works on an emergency Budget to
stabilise the economy and negotiates the tricky politics that will inevitably
surface now that the Tories are in partnership with the Liberal Democrats.

George Bull, national head of tax at Baker Tilly that one of the clouds on
the horizon is getting a proper look at the national accounts and the
realisation that the position may be worse than the Tories had thought.

“Wisdom suggest that he should carefully assimilate the facts, listen to
briefings from senior Treasury mandarins and weigh his options before announcing
proposals for change in the Budget which is no more than 50 days away.

“Then there’s inevitable ‘we’ve just seen the figures and didn’t realise how
bad they were’ problem, amplified by the Brown government’s failure to agree the
next spending round.”

Bull believes Osborne will have to take care to avoid the unintended
consequences that dogged Labour’s tax policy in its middle years. Bull says
Osborne will need to take advice from Ken Clarke and Vince Cable when ets about
tackling the deficit.

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