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British Budget due on March 22
British Finance Minister Gordon Brown announced that his 2006-2007 budget would be unveiled to Parliament on March 22.
British finance minister Gordon Brown announced on Thursday that his 2006-2007 budget would be unveiled to parliament on March 22.
Brown's budget would mark his tenth annual statement on tax and spending since he first took office back in 1997, after his Labour administration swept to power in that year's general election.
In his pre-budget report last December, a curtain-raiser for the March 2006 budget, Brown had slashed the government's official economic growth forecast for 2005 to 1.75 per cent, around half of the previous prediction of 3.0-3.5 per cent.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown has been widely touted as successor to Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Blair has said that he will not take on a fourth mandate as premier, following his third election victory in a row last May, and speculation has been rife as to when he will step down.
