Budget 2007

[shawshank]

£400 million seemed like a nice bit of pocket money for the MOD until the announcement of £8 billion for the financial black hole that is the NHS. Prehaps if they concentrated on life saving and emergency treatments and reduced their burocratic management structure then their books might balance. I don't mean to bash the NHS but until change occurs then it is throwing good money after bad.

And £400 million will barely dent the financial worries of the MOD.

That's my annual rant done.

ss

[Wycombe]

It's an pittance and probably won't even cover operational expenses. For example, read the other day (in the press) that MoD has spent £70m odd on aircraft chartering to run the airbridges over the past year alone.

£400m - that would get you a few new AT a/c, that's it :ugh:

[BEagle]

Isn't it supposed to be for defence and security? In other words, not just for the Armed Forces budget.

It is a pittance.

Good to hear Green Dave ripping into the miserable Brown - but Menzies Campbell is coming across as an utter ar$e as I type!

[Arthur's Wizard]

The extra £400 million is purely to cover the extra cost of Iraq and the Stan.

If terrorism is 'the single greatest threat facing our society today', why isn't the government stating security, security, security instead of the the 3 E's:rolleyes:

[Wader2]

Ghastly Gordon's greedy budget is a stitch up. Lots of headline grabbing numbers but the reliefs and payments are all in the future.

In the jargon, discounting the future. A stitchup not just of us but of the next labour chancellor. There will be no way the new chancellor could scrap or alter something that his boss 'promised' previously.

The only hope is for Green Dave.

Now, if we could convince Dave that we have planned to name an aircraft after him and fly it off a green carrier..............

[PNVS]

MoD estimated that the cost of operations in Iraq in 2006–07 would be £860 million. The estimated cost has now risen to £1,002 million.

MoD estimated that the cost of operations in Afghanistan in 2006–07 would be £540 million. The estimated cost has now risen to £770 million.

Total = £372 million more, just best guess as yet. This number has only one way to go. (I bet it doesn’t include the replacement for a C130J)

C Of E gives MOD £400 million.
We have spent it already, thanks anyway.
:ugh: :ugh:

[Pontius Navigator]

Subject: Wee Gordon

A young man named Gordon bought a donkey from an old farmer for £100 The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day, but when the farmer drove up he said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news... The donkey is on my truck, but unfortunately he's dead."

Gordon replied, "Well then, just give me my money back."

The farmer said, "I can't do that, because I've spent it already."

Gordon said, "OK then, well just unload the donkey anyway."

The farmer asked, "What are you going to do with him?"

Gordon answered, "I'm going to raffle him off."

To which the farmer exclaimed, "Surely you can't raffle off a dead donkey!"

But Gordon, with a wicked smile on his face said, "Of course I can, you watch me. I just won't bother to tell anybody that he's dead."

A month later the farmer met up with Gordon and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?"

Gordon said, "I raffled him off, sold 500 tickets at two pounds a piece, and made a huge, fat profit!"

Totally amazed, the farmer asked, "Didn't anyone complain that you had stolen their money because you lied about the donkey being dead?"

Gordon replied, "The only guy who found out about the donkey being dead was the raffle winner when he came to claim his prize. So I gave him his £2 raffle ticket money back plus an extra £200, which as you know is double the going rate for a donkey, so he thought I was a great guy!"

Gordon grew up, and eventually became ...... The Chancellor of the Exchequer, and no matter how many times he lied, or how much money he stole from the British voters, as long as he gave them back some of the stolen money, most of them, unfortunately, still thought he was a great guy.

The moral of this story is that, If you think Gordon is about to play fair and do something for the everyday people of the country for once in his miserable, lying life, think again my friend, because you'll be better off flogging a dead donkey!

[ProfessionalStudent]

That's nothing. The Department for International Development (DfID) has an annual budget of £5.3bn!

http://http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/bronwen_maddox/article1533787.ece

Quite remarkable reading. And so frustrating I'm still angry. Don't they say charity starts at home....?:ugh:

[SilsoeSid]

Did anyone else notice that Gordo' said, "English NHS" ?
:suspect:

[Pontius Navigator]

Well, he meant what he said. The Scottish NHS does not have the same problems.

[Melchett01]

Of course there won't be any extra cash for the MOD. It will all come under the guise of 'security' which means paying for new uniforms for Customs Officers at Dover or hiring a few more pretty young things to carry out initial interviews for terrorists wanting UK passports.

However, I fully expect it to be portrayed as a significant investment in the UK's defence capability. Just like the portrayed significant reduction in the basic rate of income tax (without mentioning the effective doubling of the lowest 10% rate of tax).

Yet more spin spin spin.. Oh I'm starting to feel dizzy .... can I get off? :yuk:

[threepointonefour]

Fact.

2006: Tory thinktank devises a tax masterplan - they intend to cut income tax by 2p and abolish the basic rate, amongst other things.

Budget 2007: Brown announces that he will abolish the basic rate of income tax and lower the standard rate by 2p.


Response by the Tories:
"Brown's tax cutting is a smokescreen and he gives with one hand whilst taking more with the other."

Counter-response by Brown (as heard on R5Live):
"I had been thinking of this tax plan for some time now, and many people will benefit from these cuts"


Liars. All of them. The devil is ALWAYS in the detail. Or No 10/11.

[airborne_artist]

£400 million seemed like a nice bit of pocket money for the MOD

Which is £100 million less than the estimated sale price of Chelsea Barracks. (Does MoD get to keep the sale proceeds, or does it go to Gordon?)