Brown plans for future - but whose? (From Gazette Series)

Brown plans for future - but whose?

RESIDENTS in the region have reacted to Chancellor Gordon Brown's tenth annual budget with mixed feelings.

Parents, shoppers and Green supporters seemed generally pleased at the annual tax hikes on cigarettes and road tax.

But motorists were disgruntled at the massive £210 rise for owners of the most petrol-consuming cars while some anti-war protestors were left aghast at the £200 million to be spent on peacekeeping operations around the globe.

But although Labour may have taken a massive slide in the opinion polls, Mr Brown's first budget since the two new opposition leaders were announced appears to have hit some of the right spots with the people of Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire. Mr Brown said this budget, the first since the General Election last year, was "a budget for the future."

Cynics responded by saying that it was in fact "a budget which would ensure Brown's future" in Government and the chancellor received heavy criticism that he was playing with the country's purse strings to ensure he becomes the next Prime Minister when Tony Blair bows out.

Mr Brown, however, said that the British economy is "strong and strengthening", and is currently growing at a rate of 2.5 percent. With his red box in hand, he was keen to emphasise the need to develop new technology, invest in infrastructure services, address environmental issues, support children's futures and encourage enterprise and prosperity in individuals.

He told MPs on Wednesday: "This is a budget for Britain's future to secure fairness for each child and invest in every child."