UK Government plans to target deficit

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   The government laid out plans on Wednesday to halve the burgeoning budget deficit and curb bankers' pay in the hope of reviving its popularity before a national election next year.
   
   The Conservatives are on course to win an election due by June, ending Labour's grip on power dating back to 1997. An enduring recession, an expenses scandal and anger over the war in Afghanistan have eroded support for Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government.
   
   Wooing wavering voters, Labour promised to tackle failing schools, improve care for the old and ill and make the streets safer in a broad programme announced by the Queen at the elaborate, annual state opening of parliament.
   
   "As the economic recovery is established, my government will reduce the budget deficit and ensure that national debt is on a sustainable path," the Queen told the upper House of Lords.
   
   Many of the proposed measures had already been flagged, raising questions about whether any of them would change the political arithmetic that places the Conservatives ahead by at least 10 points in opinion polls.
   
   "These things are a kind of shop window, but to be honest I don't think many people are in the market to buy Labour anyway," said Tom Bale, senior lecturer in politics at Sussex University.
   
   The government will enshrine in law its announced plans to cut the deficit in half over four years, but markets will have to wait until the prebudget report on December 9 for more details.
   
   The budget deficit is set to exceed 12 percent of gross domestic product this year, raising concerns on markets about the future management of public finances.
   
   Where to target tax rises and spending cuts to reduce the deficit will be a central theme in the election campaign. Brown says Conservative plans to cut the debt more quickly would endanger recovery from the longest recession on record.

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