UNITED KINGDOM


is slightly on the older side (all Parliaments since 1979 have had an average age of 49-51) despite the presence of the youngest MP since the mid-19th Century, the new SNP member, Ms Mhairi Black MP.


The July 2015 Budget As is normal following a General Election, there were two Budgets this year. The first, in March, was the last Budget of the Coalition Government. The July 2015 Budget was the first Budget of the new Conservative Government. Both were delivered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon. George Osbourne MP. The Chancellor began his Budget statement by saying: “This will be a Budget for working people—a Budget that sets out a plan for Britain for the next five years to keep moving us from a low wage, high tax, high welfare economy to the higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare country we intend to create.”


The Chancellor reported that the UK was forecast to have the highest growth among major advanced economies in the world during 2015. He announced that the deficit was “less than half the 10% we inherited”. He said that in the 2015-2020 Parliament the Government would “cut the deficit at the same pace as we did in the last Parliament. We should not go faster; we should not go slower.”


The most eye-catching and controversial changes in the Budget related to the minimum wage and welfare benefits. The Chancellor’s headline announcement was the introduction of a “national living wage” of £9 an hour for people aged 25 and over by 2020. Alongside this, he announced a series of reforms to welfare payments – limiting tax credit payments for children


The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue Three | 233


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