Big money: Reeves needs to stop whining and start making tough decisions, says ALEX BRUMMER

When is a Budget without a Budget? If this is (unlikely) Christmas tea then the answer might be: When you call it something else.

Rachel Reeves says she will not hold the Tax Collection Budget in the spring but will brief MPs alongside new budget forecasts.

But the chancellor has developed a reputation for dancing on pinheads, which isn’t exactly daring.

When Reeves gave his talk on ‘setting the foundations’ on July 30 this year, with his astonishing discovery of twenty-two billion black holes, he didn’t hesitate to slip away. in savings reaching £5.5 billion in the current financial year and £5.5 billion. 8.2 billion by 2025-26.

This included axing the winter fuel budget for pensions, scrapping plans for social care and axing £800million for AI research at the University of Edinburgh.

What the chancellor did not rule out in the spring was that he would continue to push public spending if the Office for Budget Compliance found him to be meeting budget targets.

The data seems to show that the economy is starting to grow.

The result of compliance is lower tax revenues, higher welfare bills and more debt. On March 26, MPs were told that it is possible to review public spending for the month of July.

Stupid? Most people. The country is presented with an official Budget each year, but there is little financial information and adjustments between courses. Let’s watch the words Labor.

No National Insurance increase translated into no employment tax for working people. The National Insurance cost of £25 billion is well placed on employers.

As a result of punishing employers the Council is now considering a second phase of the pension review.

The first step is to pool the money and send it to invest in the UK.

The second step is to focus on automatic enrollment in defined contribution plans that are good for generating a healthy retirement.

Currently, 8 percent of income is put into those funds and a minimum of 3 percent comes from the employer.

Instead of giving National Insurance to employers, Reeves now thinks that inflicting pain on business is unwise.

This appears to be another case of postponing difficult decisions, which may put more pressure on the Treasury.

The concern with all of this is being unprepared for the unexpected. The financial crisis, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have all shown how events can derail good policy initiatives.

The public who pay their peacetime taxes do not want to see the Chancellor dig deeper into the pockets of citizens and businesses. But closing the door is pointless.

The creative problem

The arrival of Canal+’s Paddington Bear filmmaker brought out a wet cane, not exactly a fillip for the London market.

There may be a technical reason for the drop in share prices – the French Tracker funds have sold their properties – but not a vote of confidence.

Support for creative industries in Britain – which account for up to 10 per cent of national income – is vital. UK creative teams, including publishers and authors, see a huge threat to the independence of their publications on the horizon.

The use of AI to analyze patterns of words, music charts, movie clips and the like, copyright infringement, is a real threat.

The same problem was seen when Google, in its early days, deleted parts of published works, and when pirates attacked music books.

The Government is promising a dialogue. Given the speed with which such reviews are carried out, there is a danger that when Whitehall is caught up in a legal and creative issue the bird has flown.

There should also be concern that with Labor’s embrace of big tech, as a moneylender from the UK, they will treat Silicon Valley and goats’ clothing at the expense of art and originality.

That should never happen.

Lost bags

Here are some technologies to celebrate. British Airways is integrating Apple AirTags into its baggage handling systems in an effort to speed up the process of finding and transporting missing cases.

It reduces the cost for the carrier and eases the worries for the travelers. It should not be a reason to lower performance standards.