Budget Day Blues

We had an ’emergency’ budget ten days ago in the UK, though like most such things I don’t think it is going to make great changes. Perhaps the biggest thing for us is that from next January most things will cost more as VAT, our sales tax, is going to go up by 2.5%. So a camera or computer system now costing £1000 will cost another £25.  Not a great change, and currency fluctuations before then are quite likely to make a greater change in either direction, so it isn’t even necessarily a great incentive to go out and buy now.

The flashing display on this lorry didn’t photograph well

There are traditional budget day pictures of politicians that I’m more than happy to leave to the staff and agency photographers who get paid to take such normally terminally boring stuff (which the papers etc keep on using) and just occasionally one of them will take something a little out of the ordinary that gets used.  Too often I’ve heard them show their work to other photographers and comment on the one good picture from such an event “of course they didn’t use it.”

But outside of this, it was pretty certain that more interesting things would be happening around Westminster throughout the day, though it was unfortunate I didn’t get there early enough for some of them, having business elsewhere to attend to. Parliament Square itself has been a more interesting place to be in over the last couple of months with the tents of the Democracy Camp set up on May Day adding to the long-term presence of the Parliament Square Peace Campaign that has brightened what was previously surely the most boring public square in London for over 9 years. It’s changed from being a grassed area almost impossible to reach, surrounded by traffic with no crossing places, to a lively area.

Last Tuesday, the High Court granted Mayor of London Boris Johnson  an eviction order against the Democracy Camp, and they have been given until 4pm today to leave or face forcible eviction. It is likely that many of them will fail to leave by the deadline, although I am not sure that the clearance will start then.

Barbara Tucker keeping up Brian’s campaign as he was appearing in court on Budget Day

Although immediate eviction of the separate Parliament Square Peace Campaign is not expected, with the judge stating that Brian Haw had been camping legally in the square since 2001, this is only a temporary reprieve. The BBC reports the judge stating “As the terms of the injunction make it clear that he can continue to use a tent or similar structure provided he has the permission of the mayor, I would expect the mayor not to enforce the injunction against him until his application for permission has been considered.”

King David with his stop and search form and terror weapon

But back to Budget Day as well as the two groups living in Parliament Square there were also protests by trade unionists against government cuts, a protest over the housing problem, a funeral procession by a new group calling themselves ‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay‘. The police made asses of themselves by searching a man under terrorist legislation for waving a brass and clearly decorative antique pistol, the Democracy Villagers attempted and came close to making a couple of ‘citizen’s arrests‘ on former Labour ministers for their backing of the war in Iraq (which curiously some are now backing away from) and various politicians walked around in grey suits trying to look important and be interviewed by TV crews in the media village. And the final event (at least for me) was an early evening demonstration by CND and Stop the War.

The real problem was knowing where to be at the right time, and I did miss some of the action (including those citizen’s arrests and the main trade union and climate change demonstration.)  It was also one of the few hot sunny days and at times I just went and sat down in the shade for a few minutes. Must add a sun hat to my camera bag!

More about what went on, and more pictures as usual in Budget Day in Westminster on My London Diary.