Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

5516 "Autumn" Budget introduced by Govt; sees budget cuts and investments.

September 5516 (backdated)

Fort William, Luthori - After months of drafting, Mr. MacGregor's government seems to have finally worked on a sensible proposal of budget to be laid forward to Parliament for further inquiry by lawmakers. The Government's 5516 "Autumn" Budget was moved to the House by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mrs. Matilda Brakenbrooke after an "intense" period of "proactive" negotiations between coalition partners, trade unions, business representatives and others, to "come up with the best budget possible that would answer to this Country's needs for a limited period of time", stated the Chancellor of the Exchequer during her introducing speech in the Imperial Diet.

The 5516 Budget is composed a various proposals which would, at least according to the Government, "lay a path towards prosperity that the Nation needs". Prime Minister MacGregor seems to have tweaked his economic liberalism opinions a bit, as the Budget which was proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer today is less radical than some economists and political analysts had predicted it would be on the days before the introduction.

The Liberals seemed pleased by this proposal, as Liberal Leader, Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State stated in Parliament, in defence of the Government's proposed Budget, that it was "the only way to make our country more prosperous and more richer than it has ever been before". Meanwhile, the Opposition Leader, Mrs. Pamela Brooke, while praising the Government's efforts to invest in some "necessary" targets, such as energetic transition, she also criticized the Government's decision to cut some welfare benefits and to reduce their accessibility. Chancellor Brakenbrooke stated that these cuts were intented "to not allow people to wholeheartedly fraud the Luthorian welfare benefits system, by for example, not trying to actively work".

Well, we've talked about how parties reacted to the Budget, now, the Budget in itself, what does it contain? First of all, the Government's first commitment was to increase the defence budget for this term to bring to over 4.2 % of the total GDP, in order for it to happen, the Government here proposed in their Autumn Budget to increase the defence expenditures by 0.8%, increase the Department's budget with the aim of allowing it to work in tandem with the General Staff to work out a permanent doctrine, strategy and increased Luthorian troops readiness in case of a conflict not too dissimilar to the one in Etxea.

The Government of Luthori hopes to instigate a sort of "technological" revolution within both the Armed Forces and wider society, as Prime Minister MacGregor and his Tories have vowed to do during the last election season, so the goal of this increased budget for the Department of Defence is to do so just that, work in tandem with defence contractors to work towards increasing the Armed Forces' technological gap that is currently existing with some nations. The Budget also calls for an £15.4 billion investment package meant to be directed towards investments to small and medium tech companies, with the aim of pursuing Luthori's nascent technological industry's development. 

Secretary of State for Digital Transition, Sir Bobby Lamont MP stated that the proposal of increased investment into the digital world was "in tandem" with the Government's efforts to digitalise the Luthorian bureaucracy. Mr. Lamont stated in Parliament that his ministry was "doing well enough" amids the Government's decision to move from the current platform used by Luthorian civil servants towards a new one and that the transition is "doing slowly but steadily", to continue with this trend, the Budget allocated him an increase of over £25 millions to continue his efforts.

The Cabinet also increased the budget of the Environment Ministry, with that being an explicit request from the Prime Minister's ally, Sir Alfred Flecher, who was appointed in the position of "Secretary of State for the Environment and Energetic Transition", as the Government's aim, in consensus with both the National Labour Party and Liberal Party, is to invest heavily into renewable sources of energy to tackle Luthori's overreliance on fusible sources such as coal, gas or oil for its energy alimentation. The Budget of the Environment Ministry is planned to be increased by over 3 % until the end of the term, with stated objective to bring more efforts into the preservation of Luthori's landscape through the Environment Protection Agency, which is subordinate to the Ministry of the Environment and to spearhead Luthori's gradual transition from fossil fuel to more "responsible, more respectful" energy sources such as nuclear energy.

Mr. Flecher in an address in the Diet stated that "Luthori's future policy on the environment will be focused around its protection through the implementation of strict guidelines for conduct in forests, protection of endangered animal species, protection of national parks and finally, the transition from a fossil-fuelled energetic grid to a more responsible greener energetic grid.", he also stated that for the latter, he would organise a meeting with Luthori's largest energy distributors to find out a common strategy and guideline for the transition to happen. Mr. Flecher's goals have been, unsurprisingly, praised by the Opposition, with Labour Leader stating that "it is good to see, that, at the very least, this anti-social administration, is still one that is making environment protection one of its priorities".

The Budget also vowed to increase the budget for the Department of Housing, a department which was put in place during the first ministry of Harold MacGregor, it's aiming at tackling the current housing crisis by allowing for an "hands-off" approach, Secretary of State for Housing, Mrs. Camilla Mullan MP stated that the Government's plans to alleviate the current crisis was to build, through the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure collaboration, at least 1 million new residences by the turn of the 5630s. This "laissez-faire" approach was criticised by the Opposition as being "too little, too late", with the Opposition Leader proposing rent controls for example.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government would unlock a portfolio of £27 billions to invest into the housing market and would increase the budget of the Housing Department by 0.9 %, with the stated objective that with this allocated money, the Department would continue running more efficiently its operations.

Onto the other ministries, three Departments have been announced to have been cut, with the Department of Foreign Affairs seeing the largest cut in their budget in their history, even though, privately, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Matthew Cromwell (ex officio First Secretary of State) expressed its displeasure at seeing his ministries' budget being cut by over 2.1 %, with the Chancellor stating that this was a "necessary sacrifice" for the government. In reaction, the Foreign Secretary announced that, due to these cuts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would undergo some staff replacement, with some embassies seeing a decrease in their employees. Mr. Cromwell stated that "while it's disheartening, it will be a great way to orchestrate a little studies on Luthori's relations when this suppression in posts will be handled."

Both the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Justice will also see a cut in their budget, although these are considered to be "less drastic" than the one seen in the Foreign Ministry, one surprising Department that didn't saw any cuts for now is the Department of Health and Social Services, that the Government vowed to cut during the campaign trail, it seems that disagreements between the Liberal Party, represented by the Health Secretary Adams and the Conservative Party stopped these plans. Chancellor Brakenbrooke stated that while the Health Ministry didn't see any cuts during this Budget, as the Government preferred to cut social welfare benefits accessibility, as with all other government ministries, budget cuts are not excluded in the future 5517 Budget. Although, for the two former, worries have begun to bloom upon Luthori's security and judicial apparatus being weakened and the consequences of such a choice long-term.

The Education Ministry, while not seeing any changes to its budget, was stated to receive "additional funds" to "conduct the Government's policies in education in the near future", stated Education Secretary, Dr. John Stoph, whose nomination was a surprise due to the long-running feud between him and the Conservative Party, leading him to leave the Party during the last years of the Duke of Northminster's Administration. He is also very critical of the way that education is handled within the Empire, and he vowed to make schools a "place of learning, intellect and free from political bickering", criticising the various Tory government policies on education, as he's more following an "Canrille-style" education system. He is also considered to the left of the Conservative Party, having found himself in agreement with the Labour-led education reforms of the Pryce Ministry. The Secretary stated that "education remains one of this administration's commitment" and that he would wish to table a Bill in regards to students loans in "early January 5617".

Finally, upon taxation. The most critical aspect of most Luthorians' lives. The Government, both the Liberal and Tory parties promised to decrease taxation upon both corporations and people alike. The Government, according to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered on this promise by this Budget, where the income tax has been decreased for all and the corporation tax has also been decreased by over 3%, to come up with these losses, the Government has stated to "look forward" increasing the current national debt of 49% towards 60 to 65% in the course of 15 years, although, while this course of action is popular within the Liberal Party, some Tories stated that "going into an increased deficit may be a good idea on the short term, but may be catastrophic on the long run". Chancellor Brakenbrooke stated that "all options are available", such as maybe an increase in the Value Added Tax or the Inheritance Tax, something, which was praised by the Opposition for the latter, but sharply criticised for the former.

Amid all of that, Prime Minister MacGregor stated that a revised version of the "Representation of the People Act, 5616" has been presented by the Secretary of State for Constitutional Renewal, Dame Patricia Holmes to the Select Committee on Constitutional Reform on Tuesday, with the Secretary confirmed that the Bill would "watered down" from its previous aspirations, with a House being reduced to 400 seats. A Labour MP stated that the Imperial Diet "should look" towards the abolition of the Imperial Senate, calling it "elitist" and riddled with "corruption". His motion was defeated by the Diet by a resounding 7-520-2 vote, with 520 MPs voting against the proposal. Labour Leader Brooke stated that the "Party's rebels who voted in favour of this would be suspended for 3 months for not respecting the Labour Whip's wishes and breaking party line".

@TheTimes