The Budget: How was it for Bury?

And the over-riding feeling was that the Chancellor didn't conjure up enough from his box of tricks. However, Bury North MP Alistair Burt welcomed the Budget - one he believes will keep Bury's business recovery going.

"With the constituency noticeably busier, we wanted a Budget that would keep things going well and provide new opportunities for the future," the MP stated.

"It is a people's Budget as the Government has found public expenditure for the things that matter most - the NHS, education and the police."

Mr Burt, Minister for the Disabled, continued: "It is a Budget for jobs as we have lowered employers' costs and helped the low paid and those looking for work by widening the tax thresholds at lowest earnings.

"And it is a Budget for growth as we have reduced taxation, so we can choose where to spend money, and kept a cycle going of low interest rates, low inflation and falling unemployment."

But Bury Council leader, John Byrne, has warned the measures could lead to an average council tax rise next year of at least six per cent.

He said the Budget revealed the £4 million council tax increase which he claimed the Tories were forcing on local people.

Coun Byrne added: "Figures published by the Department of the Environment, as part of the Budget package, show the Tories are planning to force council tax payers to cough up an extra £4 billion over the next three years.

"That's equal to putting over 2p on the standard rate of income tax."

Coun Byrne continued: "It proves that what the Tories may be giving with one hand, they are taking away with the other. It proves the Tories are planning to force local people to pay more and get less."

Mr Clarke's Budget package was roundly condemned by Mr Alec McFadden on behalf of Bury, Radcliffe and District Trades Council and Bury Unemployed Workers' Centre.

His major complaint was that the Chancellor had done nothing to help the plight of the unemployed.

He said: "If you are on less than £20,000 a year, you'll be no better off. The reality is unemployed people are going to be far worse off in terms of their benefit." Mr McFadden was disappointed pensioners had again been ignored and predicted that a sharp rise in diesel and petrol would mean higher-priced goods in the shops and supermarkets.

Mr Fred Bowen, president of Bury Chamber of Trade, welcomed the measures aimed at smaller businesses, particularly in terms of the 20 per cent allowance band being increased. "This takes more small earners out of the tax bracket. Any measures to put more into people's pockets to spend must be welcomed."

Mr Bowen was concerned that the 1p off tax could ultimately create extra inflation and lead to higher interest rates. He continued "This was the Chancellor's last chance before the General Election to woo voters.

"It was a prudent Budget, not a boom or bust one, and also a cautious one. I'm also very pleased to see some relief on the uniform business rate. That's a nice move for the independents."

Mr Bowen said the Chancellor's decision to phase out profit-related pay was a "negative statement" and would hamper small businesses from being able to offer incentives to the workforce.

Mr Peter Weidenbaum, MD of Radcliffe-based counting instruments manufacturer Trumeter and president of Bolton Bury Chamber of Commerce said: "I view the economy as being in good shape. "The Chancellor hasn't done anything to rock the boat in any way - it's a prudent and fairly neutral Budget."

He added he would have liked to have seen the Chancellor giving more encouragement to investment and training and stated: "In the circumstances, I think it was a reasonable Budget.

"But I would have liked to see more attention paid to the corporate sector but obviously there's not much he can give away. I would have also liked to have seen more help given to companies.

"Although corporation tax is reduced by one per cent, I feel small companies need a bit more help."

Mr Chris Aston, who runs a tobacconists in Minden Parade, Bury, is worried the 15p rise in cigarettes could mean more trade in contraband products.

"This has already been a problem," he says, "and I believe smuggling will get even more attention."

Commenting on the reaction so far of his regular customers, Mr Aston added: "Most people have had a bit of a moan about it. Once again, the Chancellor has hit the smoker pretty hard.

"Our big worry is that more people will buy contraband tobacco, bypassing the Government altogether."

He said previous tobacco price rises had harmed the trade and was convinced this latest cigarette hike would hit tobacco shops even more.

The Budget has also been blasted by Mr David Chaytor, Labour's prospective Parliamentary candidate for Bury North.

"This is a Budget from a Government that knows it will not be in power in six months time - it's dishonest and irresponsible," he said.

"It's dishonest because the cut in income tax will be matched by an increase in council tax, because of cuts to local government."

He continued: "It's irresponsible because it is based on false assumptions about future growth, levels of inflation and levels of public borrowing."

Mr Chaytor said in terms of the NHS, funding would be cut in two years time and Bury would remain the worst-funded health authority in the country.

Also bemoaning the Budget's effects on schools and housing, he concluded: "Overall, the Budget increases the wealth of the top ten per cent of the population at the expense of the poorest ten per cent and will serve to widen inequality and social division."

But Bury South MP David Sumberg was upbeat about the Chancellor's Budget box surprises. He said: "It was a prudent and sensible Budget and will hopefully build on the recovery we are now seeing.

"It means modest cuts in taxation and overall it is a good package. It will put proper pressure on the Labour party to explain exactly where they now stand on tax proposals."

Meanwhile, the man who will oppose Mr Sumberg in the next General Election, Labour's Bury South prospective Parliamentary candidate Coun Ivan Lewis, showed his contempt for the Budget - by handing out peanuts to passers-by in Radcliffe town centre.

Elsewhere, Greater Manchester Low Pay Unit welcomed the rise in tax thresholds as an important contribution to taking many low-paid people out of tax altogether.

But the unit deplored the cut of 1p in the basic rate of tax, claiming the reduction would be financed by further cuts in public spending, which would inevitably mean cuts in jobs for many public sector workers.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.