The Treasury published its autumn 2003 performance report. It said that it was 'on course' to meet its targets to expand economic and employment opportunities and to promote a fair and efficient tax and benefit system. The target of improving the quality and the cost effectiveness of public services was 'not yet assessed'.
Source: Autumn Performance Report: Progress report on HM Treasury public service agreement targets, 1998-2002, Cm 6043, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Dec
The government published its Pre-Budget Report for 2003. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that public borrowing would reach 37 billion in 2003-04 and 31 billion in 2004-05 - higher than previous estimates. There would be a new index (the harmonised index of consumer prices - HICP) for setting the official inflation target, which would exclude mortgage costs.
Source: Pre-Budget Report: The strength to take the long-term decisions for Britain - Seizing the opportunities of the global recovery, Cm 6042, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 10 December 2003, columns 1061-1086, TSO
Links: Report (pdf) | Hansard | HMT press release index | CBI press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3)
Date: 2003-Dec
Employers said that the Labour government would have raised 54 billion in extra taxes on business over the period 1996-97 to 2005-06, and accused it of 'indifference' to the financial burden being imposed. The government reportedly disputed the figures, saying that the business tax burden was lower than in other developed economies.
Source: Is the Tax System a Help or a Hindrance?, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247) | The Guardian, 13 October 2003
Links: Summary | CBI press release | Guardian report 13/10 | Guardian report 23/10
Date: 2003-Oct
A think-tank paper argued that free, independent families and communities provided a better foundation for meeting social aspirations than an all-embracing state; and that an over-large state held back wealth creation, failed to deliver better public services, and encouraged 'unhealthy dependency'. A smaller state was also the best guardian of democratic freedoms.
Source: Norman Blackwell, Freedom and Responsibility: Manifesto for a smaller state, a bolder nation, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Paper (pdf)
Date: 2003-Sep
The government published its strategy for raising economic productivity. Key priorities included transferring knowledge from the science base and between businesses; maximising potential in the workplace, for example by enhancing skills; extending competition; and strengthening regional economies.
Source: Prosperity for All, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report (pdf) | Analysis document (pdf) | DTI press release
Date: 2003-Sep
The Trade and Industry Secretary defended the Labour government's economic record since 1997, but said that much still needed to be done to remove economic inequalities and to create a high-wage, high-skill, high-productivity economy.
Source: Patricia Hewitt MP, A Labour Economy: Are we nearly there yet?, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Pamphlet (pdf)
Date: 2003-Sep
A paper analysed how Scotland could build its own economic success, learning from the successes and failures of the Irish economic miracle .
Source: Wendy Alexander with Margaret Vaughan, Chasing the Tartan Tiger: Lessons from a Celtic cousin?, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Links: Paper (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2003-Aug
The Governor of the Bank of England reportedly criticised the government's intention to adopt an index for targeting inflation (the 'harmonised index of consumer prices' - HICP) which did not include house prices.
Source: The Independent, 14.8.03
Links: No link
Date: 2003-Aug
The Trades Union Congress said that business was stuck in a low-road rut, under-investing and competing only by driving down costs and prices. It urged the government s job to lift the country on to a high-road economy, in which innovative businesses with well trained and highly skilled staff, provided quality products and services. (The TUC was responding to an official report on the United Kingdom's economic competitiveness.)
Source: UK Productivity: Shifting to the High Road - Response to the Porter report, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report (pdf) | Report | TUC press release | Porter report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Aug
The Finance Act, implementing changes proposed in the 2003 Budget, received Royal assent.
Source: Finance Act 2003, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 1.7.03, columns 190-334, TSO
Links: Text of Act | Hansard
Date: 2003-Jul
The government announced the results of its review of the economic 'tests' for the United Kingdom to adopt the common European currency (the euro). It said that while there were long-term economic benefits to joining the single currency area, the economic situation of the United Kingdom was not yet sufficiently aligned with that in other European Union countries.
Source: UK Membership of the Single Currency: Assessment of the five economic tests, Cm 5776, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 9.6.03, columns 407-437, TSO
Links: Report | Summary (pdf) | Text of statements by PM and Chancellor | Hansard | CBI press release | TUC press release | HOC Library research brief (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jun
A committee of MPs said there was a risk that corporate profitability and government tax revenues would not recover as rapidly as the Treasury had suggested in the Budget 2003 forecasts.
Source: The 2003 Budget, Seventh Report (Session 2002-03), HC 652-I, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Budget report | Budget: technical annex (pdf) | Budget speech
Date: 2003-May
The Finance Bill, implementing tax changes in the 2003 Budget, was given a second reading.
Source: Finance Bill, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 6.5.03, columns 532-642, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Hansard
Date: 2003-May
The government lowered its economic growth forecast for 2003, but said growth would accelerate again in 2004. It said the public finances remained sound and that its strict fiscal rules would be met over the economic cycle. The overall tax burden would rise from 35.6 per cent of gross domestic product in 2003-04 to 38.2 per cent in 2007-08.
Source: Budget 2003: Building a Britain of economic strength and social justice - Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report, and Financial Statement and Budget Report, HC 500, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debates 9.4.03, columns 271-372, TSO | Finance Bill 2003, TSO
Links: Report | Technical annex (pdf) | Budget speech | Hansard | Press releases index | Finance Bill | CBI press release | TUC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Apr
The government commissioned a review (from the economist, Christopher Allsopp) of the informational and statistical requirements for monetary and wider economic policymaking. The review will consider the regional information and statistical framework needed to support the promotion of economic growth in all regions and reducing the persistent gap in growth rates between the regions; and whether the changing economic structure of the United Kingdom is being properly reflected in the nature, frequency and timeliness of official economic statistics.
Source: Press release 27.2.03, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Press release
Date: 2003-Feb
A committee of MPs published a report on the government's 2002 Pre-Budget Report. It called on the government to clarify whether its policy is to limit the public finances deficit to 3 per cent of gross domestic product (as required of signatories to the European Treaty on monetary union).
Source: The 2002 Pre-Budget Report, Second Report (Session 2002-03), HC 159, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2003-Jan