The benches were packed with anticipation as Gordon Brown arrived to deliver his 11th and last Budget to the Commons. (No Chancellor since Gladstone had lasted so long, though it is fair to point out that Gladstone was also the Prime Minister at the same time!) We all knew of course what was coming. He would blind the House with a dazzling array of figures, so complicated that most Hon Members had lost the will to live after ten minutes, he would announce some huge gesture towards the elderly, the sick and the poor and then he would fleece us with an array of taxes. Rather like a not so good magician, we saw the trick, we knew it was a trick but somehow we fell for it just the same!

Of course this year there was an extra flourish. When all was over, or so it seemed, the triumphant ‘Great Gordino’ as one commentator called him drew himself up to his full height and announced a two pence cut in income tax. The Labour benches cheered, the opposition were stunned, and the press gallery sat open mouthed. Surely after 11 years of ‘prudence’ and stealth taxes on everything from pensions to pogo sticks he hadn’t announced tax cuts?

Out of the Chamber we rushed to read the accompanying documents and media releases that are available when the Chancellor sits down. All was not as it seemed! Remember the plethora of statistics, figures that were incomprehensible other than to a tax accountant with degrees in mind reading? Well in and amongst that lot were the key phrases of ‘fiscally neutral’, ‘within projected spending limits’, ‘little room to manoeuvre’ and the removal of the 10p rate of tax!

In other words what ‘Gord gave with one hand, he took with the other’ as the Birmingham Mail so succinctly remarked in its leader. Simon Hoggart went a little further describing Gordon as a modern day Robin Hood – ‘taking from the rich and the poor and then giving them it all back’!

The Income Tax cut was paid for by doubling the starting rate of tax, meaning that even pensioners n modest incomes would pay more tax! Investment relief for small business was paid for by raising their corporation tax! Rises in tax credits paid for by reducing the levels at which the higher rates were paid. Clever it might be, generous it most certainly was not! Amen to the ‘Great Gordino’!

Still all is not lost – we can now look forward to the Reform of the House of Lords. This important issue which has taxed Prime Ministers for a century is yet again on the agenda. This time the Prime Minister means business. A number of options were given to MP’s to vote upon. We voted by a huge majority to have an elected ‘Second Chamber’ (we could not call it House of Lords because they would all have been dismissed). There were great cheers on all sides of the House though I confess I could not get too excited. After all not a single one of my constituents had written to me about this important topic.

With such a ringing endorsement for change – it was now the turn of their Lordships to vote on Mr Straw’s proposals. Surprise, surprise they voted to reject an elected chamber, voting instead for a fully ‘appointed’ House of Lords! So there we have it. After 100 years, thousands of hours of debate and heaven knows how many trees felled in the name of this cause we have stale-mate and the knowledge that ‘Turkeys never vote for Christmas!’

Let me conclude with a far more successful tale from Westminster. As I write this piece the House has agreed without a vote to allow for an extension of the deadline to restore devolved government to Northern Ireland. This week’s historic agreement between the DUP leader Ian Paisley and the Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to sit together in government was a truly momentous occasion. That democracy and the ballot box have finally overcome the bullet and coercion is a salutary lesson for us all.

Despite all its failings our parliamentary democracy is something to be cherished and to be truly grateful for.

Harrogate Advertiser, March 2007