The Chancellor's Budget now changes tax and spending law

A Budget with real authority

• •Set tax and programme law together. The Chancellor can choose legal tax targets and statutory programme levels, then table the package as one annual Commons confidence vote.
• •Ordinary Acts still matter. A Budget uses the same law and fiscal ledger as every other Act. Whichever measure passes later controls the setting.
• •Preview before tabling. The authoring panel shows projected receipts, spending, surplus or deficit, category changes and how many turns a tax change will take to phase in.
• •Vacancies no longer stop the Budget. The Prime Minister can act while the Chancellorship is vacant, and authority transfers when a Chancellor is appointed.
• •Clearer Treasury figures. The Budget page explains raw and smoothed debt-to-GDP, primary balance, debt interest and the one-percentage-point tax phase-in rule.