If there were any doubts about how much power the trade unions wields over Gordon Brown’s Labour party, today the truth is becoming clear.

This morning The Sun splashed with some interesting statistics about Labour’s dependence on the unions.

While Labour is dependent on most unions for its continued survival, the Unite Union is rapidly emerging as the power behind Labour and its election campaign.

Not only are they bankrolling the party and undertaking its outsourced election campaign, but their political director, Charlie Whelan, is now back working as a key adviser to Gordon Brown.

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Richard Willis, Conservative Councillor on Reading Borough Council, has the exclusive:

A very good source has told me that it is now known by some at Westminster that Alastair Darling’s Budget will be presented to Parliament on 24 March.

If this is the case we now know what the timetable leading into the General Election will be.

Since there has to be one week of debate following the Budget, the earliest Gordon Brown could go to the Palace would be 1 April. Though this is the earliest opportunity the PM would have, I don’t think this is when the election will be called as Brown will want to avoid the obvious connotation associated with doing on April Fools Day.

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Yesterday evening Gary Gibbon posted a rather interesting piece on the Channel 4 News Snowblog, which outlined a potential timeline for the General Election. While interesting it didn’t take into account the prospect of Gordon Brown calling a snap election.

So how could things shape up if the Prime Minister goes to the country on March 25 instead of May 6? Well this is how things could pan out.

Under the timeline which sees the election being held on the 6th, it’s widely believed that Alistair Darling would deliver the Budget on 24th March.

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Tomorrow George Osborne will unleash the wrath of Ronald Reagan in a damning critique of Labour economic policy.

Speaking at the Mais lecture at the Cass Business School the shadow chancellor will echoing Reagan’s 1980 pre-election question to voters: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

He will tell the audience: “Labour’s 2005 manifesto promised ‘increased prosperity’. That is the biggest broken promise of all. Even through the dark days of the 1970s and the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s the growth of GDP per capita was sustained in every full Parliament.

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Public borrowing hit an all-time high of £20.3 billion for a single month in November, official figures have revealed.

The latest confirmation of the recession’s impact on the public finances will put more pressure on Chancellor Alistair Darling.

The figure is not as bad as the £23 billion feared by economists but still takes net borrowing for the eight months of the financial year so far to £106.4 billion.

The £20.3 billion is more than was borrowed by the UK for the whole of 2002 and on a par with International Monetary Fund estimates for the entire 2009 output of economies such as Costa Rica and Uruguay.

Net borrowing is expected to reach £178 billion for the year as a whole.

The gloomy figures also showed net debt reaching a record £844.5 billion in November – or 60.2% of the UK’s annual GDP.

Current tax receipts fell by £1 billion on the same month a year ago while spending jumped by more than £3 billion to £50.3 billion.

Nearly a third of this spending was accounted for by social benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance – the so-called “bill for failure” – which hit £16.2 billion. This is the highest for at least eight years, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Other unwanted records thrown up by the figures include a £16.2 billion current deficit – the gap between spending and receipts.

The deficit for the year so far has reached £83.2 billion, although the Chancellor has pledged to halve the deficit within four years and the Government is passing a Fiscal Responsibility Bill to put the commitment on a legal footing.

Responding to the announcement Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said:

“In the run up to Christmas, Gordon Brown is maxing out on the nation’s credit card – and doesn’t care how we are going to repay these debts in the future. The record public borrowing figures equates to almost £1000 for every family this month alone. Now we’re all paying for Labour’s failure to fix the roof when the sun was shining – and after last week’s PBR, we know they have no credible plan to get this debt under control. So the price of keeping Gordon Brown in office is clear: higher interest rates, higher youth unemployment and families being squeezed. Only a change of Government can now bring the prosperity and lasting recovery Britain yearns. The continuing decline in credit to business also revealed today shows that all those Government recession schemes have failed and the credit crunch continues for many smaller businesses. Our economy needs confidence and credit – and its getting neither under Labour.”

Chancellor Alistair Darling has been accused of covering up the scale of Britain’s mounting debt interest.

Appeared before the Treasury select committee yesterday he refused to give figures estimating how big the countries interest repayments would be on the £178 billion annual deficit.

Michael Fallon, the senior Conservative MP on the committee, grilled Mr Darling over the fact that last week’s Pre-Budget Report had not mentioned that debt interest would hit an estimated £60bn per year by 2013 – roughly double the current amount.

Committee members had been told on Monday by the chief economist at HSBC that annual debt interest would grow to £60bn in four years.

Mr Fallon said to the Chancellor: “Why are you continuing to conceal these numbers?”

Mr Darling replied: “For the last ten years, we have been publishing debt numbers on a three-year programme. What we have not done is to publish estimates and forecasts beyond that.

“Even in the best of times, unlike now when there is a great deal of uncertainty. Nothing has changed from this year to last year. We only publish what has been decided.”

The Chancellor was also quizzed over bankers’ bonuses and admitted that the new 50 per cent levy would “not actually raise that much”.

He acknowledged there was “resistance” to the move, but continued to exert pressure on the banks to change their behaviour.

“I say to the bankers, you’ve got to help yourselves to get through this process, and that means if you want to get off the front pages for goodness’ sake show some of the restraint the public want you to.”

George Osborne challenged Mr Darling to come clean over the size of the interest payments, writing to the chancellor Mr Osborne said:

“Yesterday your officials gave a commitment to the Treasury Select Committee that they would publish the Treasury’s projections for overall Departmental Expenditure Limits that lay behind your assertion that spending would be “broadly flat”. I asked you three times in Treasury Questions to publish the same projections. Today, in front of the same committee, you acknowledged that the Treasury had made those projections but repeatedly refused to publish them.

“The only logical conclusion is that the projections contain information about Government forecasts for departmental spending that you do not wish to be made available to the public. After the Budget we published internal Treasury projections which revealed that departmental spending would be cut by 9.3% in real terms. Following the Pre-Budget Report, the Institute for Fiscal Studies have estimated that your announcements on NHS and schools spending imply average cuts in other departments of up to 19% over three years.

“You have said that you want to make public spending plans more transparent, and today you said that you were “reflecting” on what additional information could be published. The lack of detail that you provided in the PBR has resulted in an overwhelmingly negative reaction from international investors that puts Britain’s economic stability at risk and threatens the recovery. So I am writing to ask you to publish immediately the projections for overall departmental spending that your officials agreed to provide to Parliament. What are you trying to hide?“

The governments planned 50 percent tax on bonuses probably won’t need to be extended, Treasury Minister Paul Myners said, a day after a colleague indicated it may be.

“From the engagement I have had with the banking industry to date, I am fairly clear that it’s not going to be required to extend it further,” Myners said, adding “It’s a one-off tax.”

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne told Parliament yesterday that the government “remain open to the possibility of extending the legislation and the tax if the avoidance measures that some have talked about are put into practice.”

The British Bankers’ Association met with treasury officials earlier today to complain that the new tax threatens the nation’s standing as a financial centre. The meeting between BBA’s policy team responsible for taxation and the Treasury is one of a series planned, said BBA spokesman Brian Mairs.

“Our concern is that the cumulative effects of policy and regulatory changes should not combine to make the U.K. appear as a jurisdiction that is hostile to financial business,” said Mairs.

In his Pre-Budget Report Alistair Darling said the one-off tax would raise £550 million, but some banks have claimed that it will be much more.

Appearing before the Commons Treasury committee the chancellor said: “I say to the bankers, you’ve got to help yourselves to get through this process, and that means if you want to get off the front pages for goodness’ sake show some of the restraint the public want you to.

“But the reason we’ve introduced this measure – it’s not a great revenue raiser, it doesn’t actually bring in that much – what it does do though, I think, is send a clear signal that we need to change behaviour.”

He added: “Most people realise that these banks, and banks all over the world, would not be standing today if taxpayers in this country and in other countries too hadn’t put their hands in their pockets to stabilise the banking system.

“I think that most people would say that this is a time when the banks should be consolidating, they should be building up their capital strength, they should be ensuring they are in a position to resume lending so that together we can see the economy grow.

“That does mean that some bankers, not all, need to demonstrate that they live on the same planet as the rest of us, they need to be realistic.

“All we’re saying to banks, and the measure I announced last week which is one-off is… ‘we think you should not be paying bonuses at this stage; you should be putting money in the bank; but if you do then there will be a levy on that payroll by bankers’.”

The Chancellor wanted to do more to tackle the UK’s ballooning deficit but was overruled by the Prime Minister, according to reports.

Alistair Darling originally came up with “tougher” measures for this week’s pre-Budget Report (PBR) to start making inroads into the £178 billion of public borrowing needed this year, according to the BBC.

But with an eye on the election, Gordon Brown stepped in to maintain a multibillion-pound spending boost to protect frontline services like schools and the NHS.

According to the Guardian, the Treasury wanted to raise the VAT rate above 17.5% next month – a move that could have raised billions for the public coffers.

But Mr Brown and his allies opted instead for a later hike in national insurance, the paper said, fearing the VAT rise would hamper any economic recovery.

A Treasury official told the Guardian: “Ministers look across the range of options and it is no surprise that other ways of revenues were being examined.”

Defending the PBR and the measures taken by Mr Darling, David Blunkett said that the Treasury sources should to be ashamed of themselves if Britain’s credit rating is effected – he added that the government aim to halve it in four years was ambitious, but had to be done.

“If any of these so-called sources… from the Treasury undermine our credit rating… they ought to be ashamed by themselves,” he said.

He added that a longer term view was needed on the deficit, noting that it was “not until 2002 that this Labour government paid off the debt from the second world war” and backed the scale of borrowing saying “if the roof’s taken off your house you take a mortgage out to put it back on”.

In Wednesday’s PBR, Mr Darling predicted borrowing costs would increase this year to £178 billion – up from a previous estimate of £175 billion. He pledged to halve the deficit over the next four years in an “orderly way” that would not threaten the recovery.

On Thursday, Mr Darling was warned by the influential think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies that he must find £36 billion in new spending cuts if the Government is to meet its commitment to halve the budget deficit over the next four years.

Philip Hammond, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said that the reported rift between chancellor and prime minister over the pre-Budget report shows that the Treasury agrees with the Conservatives on the need for a quicker reduction in the deficit.

“While Gordon Brown is attempting to create artificial dividing lines the Treasury is agreeing with us and leading commentators that what’s good for the country is a quicker reduction in the fiscal deficit,” he said.

“Once again Gordon Brown has intervened, insisted on party ahead of country.”

He said Labour were “concealing plans from the general public,” because a consensus on how to deal with the deficit had not yet been reached.

“At the heart of government there is a conflict between the Treasury, who want an early start to fiscal tightening and No.10 Downing Street – Gordon Brown – who wants to claim that that would undermine recovery.”

Britain may lose its top credit rating unless borrowing is cut faster, that is the conclusion of George Osborne after spending the majority of last night digesting Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report.

In an interview with Reuters Mr Osborne spoke for the first time of his fears that Britain could be stripped of its AAA credit rating.

“The bulk of dealing with the deficit has to come from spending restraint,” Osborne said. “Unfortunately, the measures announced yesterday don’t start tackling the deficit until 2014/15 and that is far too late.”

“The thing I am aiming for is making sure that Britain keeps its credit rating.”

Ratings agencies have warned that Britain’s triple-A credit rating, which enables the government to borrow more cheaply than less credit-worthy nations, could be at risk unless the government lays out a credible plan to cut the deficit. Both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have said that the countries long-term credit worthiness is at risk if meaningful measures are not implemented to get debt under control.

The Shadow Chancellor has already said that he will deliver an emergency budget within 50 day’s if the Conservatives are victorious next year, and argue that hacking back debt will safeguard confidence and keep interest rates low, enabling a sustainable recovery to take root.

“We’ve got to keep interest rates as low as possible for as long possible,” Osborne said.

The Conservative leadership believes the Bank of England would do what is necessary to drive growth forward, allowing the party to get painful cuts in spending out of the way quickly.

Interview on the Today Programme this morning, Mr osborne accused the Chancellor of using the PBR for electioneering purposes, and highlight the fact that the national insurance increase will reduce the NHS budget by £446 million because it is the countries biggest employer.

“That national insurance increase will lead to a real cut in health spending.”

He went on to stress the need to deal with the deficit and the importance of being upfront about it.

“It’s got to be honest, we’ve got to stop having a pre-election con. You’ve got to be honest with people that there are tough choices coming,” he added.

George Osborne has two clear lines of attack on Alistair Darling and his Pre-Budget Report today, first NHS cuts and second a temporary increase in benefits.

Yesterday Mr Darling announced that he planned to bring forward a 1.5 per cent rises in child and disability benefits to 2010.

But the independent think tank, Institute for Fiscal Studies, believes this increase will be funded by cuts to the very same benefits a year later.

The shadow chancellor, said Mr Darling had missed an opportunity “to be honest with the public” and accused him of a “pre-election con” in trumpeting positive measures that would have to be paid for later.

Mr Osborne also suggests that while the Government talks of NHS spending, there will actually be cut in NHS spending, this is because the NHS employs so many people. According to Conservative predictions the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions will take a £446 million out of NHS budgets.

Interview on the Today Programme, the shadow chancellor said “The government are shooting themselves in the foot.”
“That national insurance increase will lead to a real cut in health spending.”

He went on to stress the need to deal with the deficit and the importance of being upfront about it.

“It’s got to be honest, we’ve got to stop having a pre-election con. You’ve got to be honest with people that there are tough choices coming,” he added.

Mr Darling has defended his decision to delay billions of pounds in public spending cuts until after the general election, saying that he wants to establish growth before trying to halve the deficit over the next four years in an “orderly way” that would not threaten the recovery.

Appearing on GMTV he said, “Of course there are some people who say we should go faster and further … I don’t think that would have been right. I think it’s important that we continue to get ourselves through one of the steepest downturns we’ve ever seen.”

But he conceded “some difficult decisions” will have to be made to bring down the country’s £178 billion annual deficit.

“We’re not out of recession yet, there’s a lot of uncertainty around,” he said .

Mr George Osborne accused the Government of “building up debts that will cripple this country”. Also appearing on GMTV he said: “This country has enormous debts. The Government has left an enormous economic mess.”
He also used the opportunity to reinforced the Conservatives latest digital advert by saying the tax was “an income tax on anyone earning over £20,000″.

“Now Labour’s class war involves anyone earning over £20,000,” he added, but was not yet in a position to promise to reverse it, but that this was the measure he would most wanted to avoid implementing.