The UK Budget has been the biggest highlight of this week and thus we go back to Money Management’s November 1996 issue, the last time when an all-Conservatives government presented their Budget to the parliament.
Then chancellor Kenneth Clarke called the Budget a “Rolls Royce recovery – built to last” and predicted an economic growth of 2.5 per cent in 1996 and 3.5 per cent in 1997. Tax thresholds were raised, taking some lower incomes out of income tax altogether and the inheritance tax threshold was raised to £215,000. Mr Clarke increased spending in NHS and education by £1.6bn.
Sounds familiar? Well, indeed it is. George Osborne’s Budget announced earlier this week seems to have taken guidance from Mr Clarke’s budget announced 17-years back. The main themes through Mr Clarke’s Budget – cutting income tax, raising IHT threshold and government spending – are remarkably similar to the first Budget of newly-formed Conservative government.
However, the November ‘96 magazine’s focus was the Pensions Act that created new demand for group personal pensions. In a feature on the Pensions Act, the writer mentions that the arrival of this act has made Group Personal Pensions (GPP) the preferred choice for many employers.
An eight-page feature on investment business trends mentions the UK fund management industry as buoyant due to stock markets at historically high levels. The story lists out top groups for unit trust growth. Schroders tops the list in larger group and Royal Bank of Scotland in smaller groups.
The magazine also featured a two-page advertisement from Dell on their latest 150MHz Pentium processors with attached CD-Rom drives. The 12.1 inch computer system comes for £4,140 with delivery and VAT included. Taking you down the memory lane?
In other news:
November 1 – Spice Girls’ Say You’ll Be There was number one on the official charts at the start of the month.
November 19 - Pope John Paul II and Cuban leader Fidel Castro held their historic first meeting in the Vatican.
November 30 - The Stone of Scone is installed in Edinburgh Castle 700 years after it was removed from Scotland by King Edward I of England
More Back in the day:
