Brown announces Budget date . . . and a pay freeze

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown last night set the stage for a May 6 election with the announcement of a pay freeze for top civil servants and a Budget in two weeks on March 24.

He sought to calm City of London fears about the economy with a pledge Chancellor Alistair Darling will spell out how the government will tackle Britain’s huge £178billion deficit, but also vowed not to act too soon and risk plunging the country back into recession.

In addition, he made his own personality one of the issues, stating: “What you see is what you get.”

The keynote speech effectively launched the general election campaign.

Mr Brown is expected to set out his key election platform at a one-day Scottish Labour rally in Glasgow on March 27 and formally visit the Queen the week after to invite her to dissolve parliament – possibly risking April Fools Day jokes by doing so on April 1, allowing a few days to rush agreed business through parliament.

The decision to fix a Budget surprised some commentators who believe the economic forecasts remain so grim it can hardly contain the sort of giveaways a government seeking re-election would like.

The prime minister gave a foretaste of what is to come in his keynote speech, starting with the pay freeze for senior civil servants, judges, generals, top NHS managers, consultants and family doctors.

It came a day after lower ranking civil servants went on a day strike against their own pay freeze – as it was confirmed MPs are to get a 1.5% rise.

Mr Brown’s comments were dismissed by the Tories, who have said they would begin spending cuts this year, with shadow foreign secretary William Hague warning that another five years of Labour would be a “catastrophe” for Britain. Shadow chancellor George Osborne labelled Mr Brown as “the biggest risk to recovery” with “nothing new to offer”.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said: “It’s very difficult to see how the man who claimed to have abolished boom and bust can campaign on his stewardship of the economy after the greatest bust for decades.”

Liberal Democrat Scottish spokesman Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland, said it was “unprecedented” for a Budget to be announced so late and claimed that is because Mr Brown and Mr Darling had been hoping to go to the polls “without having to come clean to the British people”.

He forecast Mr Darling “will act in Labour’s interest rather than the nation’s” and fail to spell out in detail where the spending axe must fall.

SNP treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie said it would be impossible for the UK Government to hide the true state of the economy so close to the election, adding: “SNP MPs will fight tooth and nail to make sure there are no further damaging cuts which would weaken the Scottish Government’s ability to build a sustainable economic recovery.”

Aberdeen North Labour MP Frank Doran said: “The prime minister has given the country a clear message as to the direction Labour will take.

“It is important everyone knows how the present economic difficulties are going to be dealt with, and that is a direct contrast to the other parties.”

In his speech, Mr Brown – who has recently seen a recovery in the polls – sought to make “character” a central issue in the election, saying it was inextricably linked with policy. “It is for other people to judge, but I believe that character is not about telling people what they want to hear but about telling them what they need to know,” he said. “It is about having the courage to set out your mission and the courage to take the tough decisions and stick to them without being blown off course, even when the going is difficult.

“For better or for worse, with me what you see is what you get.”

He said the pay freeze would help save more than £3billion by 2013-14.

Overall, however, he said the recovery was still too weak to begin serious belt-tightening yet. “In my view we are nearly there in repairing the global financial system,” he said. “But there is nothing preordained or automatic about the upturn, either here or around the world. While we have come through the worst of this dreadful storm, the waters are still choppy. There are still real risks to the recovery.”

He said withdrawing the government support put in place after the financial collapse of 2008 “too rapidly and recklessly” could still drive the UK back into recession.