Summer Budget: Osborne to slow pace of deficit reduction but publish 'Fiscal Charter'

Chancellor George Osborne has used the first Conservative Budget since 1996 to announce he is delaying plans for the UK to return to a budget surplus until 2019/2020.

Addressing the House of Commons, Osborne said the government should cut the deficit "at the same pace as we did in the last Parliament", but pushed back the timeline for returning to a surplus. The deficit is now forecast to fall to 3.7% this year, then 2.2% in 2016/17 and 0.3% in 2018/19 before returning to a surplus of 0.5% in 2019/20 - the largest such surplus in 40 years, Osborne said. The Chancellor had previously said the UK would return to a budget surplus in 2018/19, but today's announcement suggests Osborne has given himself room for some giveaways in the current Parliament. ...