UK Government spending breakdown

This site gives some detailed figures

Most political parties have well developed, detailed policies on a range of issues. A common question asked of many policies is what will it cost, or how will you pay for it?

You can see how often cost, and the economy, is raised in the parties' political broadcasts on TV, some of which are gathered here.

This often comes up during 'PMQs' (Prime Minister's Questions', a weekly event in the House of Commons when the PM has to answer a series of questions from other MPs. Here's an iPlayer link to an example.

The links below will help YOU to answer these questions for YOUR policies!

YOU should be prepared and equipped to answer questions such as this, or others - perhaps from some who don't sure your views!

You can also find data (and opinions) on specific areas of government spending by googling terms like this one, or 'uk defence spending'

2014 UK GOVERNMENT SPENDING FIGURES:

Guardian (UK daily 'broadsheet' or 'quality' newspaper) pie chart of 2014 government budget here.

BBC summary of 2014 budget changes.

You can also get a pie chart at the ukpublicspending website, or click on areas of government spending for some more detail on where the money goes.

There are many more resources, often more challenging, in this post.

(2013:
Presented as a pie chart here.
In greater detail here.)

Guardian pie chart: click HERE for full-size view

Not as detailed, but click HERE to see this version.

Local government - some resources

First up, five especially useful sources for finding out more about local government:
1: The Ilkley Gazette is an obvious starting point - look for recent stories which tell you anything about the powers or spending of the local council - what do they fund, what do they control? (I've linked some sample articles below)

The BBC's guide on local government funding

2: The gov.uk guide breaks down some of the many roles and responsibilities of local and regional councils.(scroll to bottom for a screenshot)

3: There is always the wiki on Local Government in England...

4: The Guardian newspaper has a useful microsite bringing together all its articles on local government.
Here, for example, is an article on an analysis of spending cuts faced by local councils nationwide, from May 9th, 2013.

5: The BBC provide this useful guide on local government funding.

Further resources on local government:
Here's the BBC or the Financial Times on the story about spending cuts for local government ... or try the Local Government Chronicle!.

Here's an article analysing Local Government Minister Eric Pickles' 1.7% funding cut for 2013-14.

Elsewhere, you can find lost of analysis on the topic of library closures, such as this Guardian article (and here's their microsite bringing together all articles on this topic).
The BBC also report on this story.
Google carries a lot of news links for the search 'local government cuts'.

The cuts have impacted locally; here's a few stories that refer to Ilkley or Keighley:
(BBC) Council services face further cuts;
(Telegraph) Titchmarsh: Sin to cut funding for parks;
(Ilkley Gazette) Shock and outrage at Otley food bank need;
(Ilkley Gazette): Charity battle as funds run out.


The gov.uk guide breaks down some of the many roles and responsibilities of local and regional councils.

Budget, Revenue and Spending

The money raised by the government through taxation, assets and borrowing is its revenue, whereas the money paid out is known as government spending. We are currently experiencing widespread government spending cuts. Your generation could grow up with austerity the defining approach to government finance.
Every year the Chancellor of the Exchequer, second only to the Prime Minister in terms of seniority and authority within the government (and many would argue that Gordon Brown was more powerful as Tony Blair's Chancellor than when he became PM himself), sets out the government spending plans, including any changes to revenue-raising (taxes etc), in the Budget.

The Budget is the single most important economic and financial statement made each year by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to Parliament and the nation. The Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011 require the Government to produce a Budget Report for each financial year. The Charter for Budget Responsibility sets out what the Budget Report must cover.  [source: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/budget.htm]

Here's a short history of the Budget:



Every budget has winners and losers. In theory at least, Labour governments (at least before Tony Blair) would set budgets that reduced tax on the poor whilst increasing spending on the poor, using increased corporation (business) and wealth (income) tax to pay for this, while the Tories would cut public spending overall, especially welfare payments to the poor, and focus on reducing tax on the rich and business. The  2012 budget was extremely controversial: the so-called pasty tax (here's the BBC's take) seemed to penalise the poor while the richest saw their income tax cut from 50% to 45%.
After every budget the media quickly calculates who they think will the winners and losers, as do think tanks such as the IFS. The Guardian analyse the 2012 winners and losers from the autumn 2012 statement, which was heavy on welfare cuts, here.

TASK 1: LIST FORMS OF TAXATION
This is a very simple task that you can achieve by quickly browsing the relevant Wikis, hyperlinked above, and looking for the different forms of taxation they list. You should be able to find at least 9. They don't list Council Tax as they focus on national taxation. Write or type these 9, + Council Tax.

The Wiki on public finance is full of useful facts, including the range of taxes the government uses to raise revenue. There is also a separate Wiki on taxation.