I've been trying to establish which parts of the budget were influenced by the Lib Dems and have identified three major items: (1) the £2bn oil industry levy which appears to be sounding the death knell for certain major investments in the North Sea so placing us at the risk of importing more oil and gas (I'm glad the Lib Dems are taking ownership for that one as it appears that the Treasury, under George Osborne's lead, will find ways to side-step the proposed changes); (2) the £1bn action on tax avoidance (very sensible however I expect that George Osborne would have suggested the same idea so perhaps it is a case of letting the Lib Dems have their 'day in the sun') and (3) the raising of the income tax threshold (good idea).
All in all it appears to be substantially a Conservative Budget as evidenced by Nick Clegg's off the microphone comment at the Boots factory where he appeared to suggest that the Lib Dems found nothing to disagree with in the budget.
Are the Lib Dems becoming the Conservative Lite Party? Which raises the question for the electorate: Why vote for a pale imitation when you can have the real thing
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