Budget

I listened to the budget with extra interest today. Brown's "budget for pensioners" comes the day before I am due at my first official husting - at the Islington Pensioners Forum. And it was good to see Labour stealing some Green policies for their budget, even if they are watered down.
But the main theme of the budget seems to be opportunities missed. Despite all the Labour rhetoric on climate change there is a paucity of action. Freezing fuel duty and setting aside £30bn for new roads will hardly reduce the 25% of CO2 emmissions caused by car traffic.

The headlines will no doubt focus on the "election giveaway" for pensioners, but as usual the devil is in the detail. Take free local transport for example. The Green policy of free LocalPlus travel includes local travel and travel to the nearest major town or city. In rural areas, thousands of pensioners will find that Labour's poorly thought out scheme means that they can't travel to their usual market town because it's over the county boundary and not included in their free pass.