What kind of Britain will be assumed and prefigured in today’s budget. “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also,” as the ancient wisdom of the Christian gospel reminds us.
What kind of Britain will be assumed and prefigured in today’s budget. “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also,” as the ancient wisdom of the Christian gospel reminds us.
As ever, our concern in Ekklesia will be to analyse Mr Osborne’s performance in the following terms:
(1) how do specific proposals impact on the most poorest and most vulnerable in society? (2) how is wealth being shared or accumulated, by whom and to what ends? (3) how is sustainability and environment factored economically? (4) what is being done about tax evasion and avoidance? (5) what is being done to stimulate positive, green growth, jobs and pro-social enterprise? (6) how are fiscal, monetary and other levers being used and to what ends?
Budgets, Ekklesia believes, are moral documents. They are not just about abstract figures. They indicate the priorities and vision (or lack of it) of a society and the choices it – and especially its elected leaders – wishes to make.
The larger issues about how we understand money, its nature, creation and use are raised well in political economist Ann Pettifor’s digital book, Just Money: How society can break the despotic power of finance, which is introduced here: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/19919
In related work, Ekklesia is continuing to look at church investments / financial policies, has co-published the churches’ São Paulo Statement, International Financial Transformation for the Economy of Life (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/19965) and has encouraged participation in Economy of Life: An invitation to theological reflection and action (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/21116)
* You can follow developments today on our website, and at the 2015 Summer Budget aggregator: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/budget2015
Resources we recommend for following the debate:
* Treasury feeds on the Summer 2015 budget: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/budget-july-2015
* Spring 2015 budget details: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/budget-2015
* Official Budget March 2015 documents on the Treasury website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2015-documents
* To compare a range of past budgets and statements, look back on: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/budget
* Guardian budget live blog and calculator: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2015/jul/08/budget-2015-live
* BBC budget updates: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-33383657
* New Economics Foundation: http://www.neweconomics.org/
* JRF: http://www.jrf.org.uk/welfare-reform
* ToUChstone blog detailed analysis: http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/
* Resolution Foundation budget analysis and response: http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/press/
* Jonathan Portes (NIESR): http://niesr.ac.uk/blog
* Tax Research UK: http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/
* Centre for Welfare Reform: http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org
* Prime Economics: http://www.primeeconomics.org/
* False Economy: http://falseeconomy.org.uk/
* Frances Coppola: http://coppolacomment.blogspot.co.uk
* Past budget year analysis aggregated individually on Ekklesia: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/budget2014, http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/budget2013 http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/budget2012, http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/budget2011, and http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/budget2010.