One of the best bits of theater that plays out in the British parliament every year is when the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) stands before the House of Commons and announces the following year's Budget.

George Osborne will do this on Wednesday afternoon, less than a year after his Conservative Party came to power promising a massive five-year deficit reduction plan.

But this is not Osborne's first Budget speech. He fronted the new government's "Emergency Budget" in June last year. Following that speech and last October's spending review, the British public now know what's in store until2015: Austerity.

You would hardly know it, yet.

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