The Budget and the annual Finance Bill - Commons Library Standard Note

Published 16 July 2013 | Standard notes SN00813

Authors: Antony Seely

Topic: Elections, Taxation

Each year the Chancellor of the Exchequer presents the Budget, which contains all the tax measures for the year ahead. Traditionally the Budget has been in March, prior to the start of the tax year on 6 April. The statutory provisions to effect these tax measures are set out in a a single Bill: the annual Finance Bill. This note discusses the way that Parliament debates the Budget and scrutinises the Finance Bill, and how this procedure can be affected by the timing of a General Election. In 2011 the Coalition Government reformed the Parliamentary timetable, moving the Queens Speech and the beginning of the annual Session to the spring. In turn provision was made to allow for the Finance Bill to be carried over from one Session to the next to ensure that this reform did not substantially reduce the amount of time available for the Bill’s scrutiny.

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