Less jargon than a Brown Budget

Alistair Darling's first Budget speech contained few surprises

Alistair Darling used the word "stability" 23 times in his Budget and relied on prose more than numbers, the Plain English Campaign (PEC) has said.

According to PEC, he attempted to use more straightforward language than Gordon Brown's 2007 speech.

The pressure group said Mr Darling's 50-minute Budget speech contained a great deal of aspirational language.

It is calling on the government to publish a plain English draft of the speech, alongside the full text.

'Wordy speech'

Reviewing Mr Darlings speech, PEC said that the chancellor used some aspirational, wordy language.

We would still call for the government to consider producing a plain English draft of the speech to go on the government's website Steve Jenner, Plain English Campaign Read plain English Budget speech

It picked out: "There is no greater moral imperative than to make sure that every child has the highest aspiration and ambition."

PEC said this was to counterbalance the use of heavyweight words such as stability.

Mr Brown's 2007 speech contained more jargon, such as "risk-based regulation" and "new drivers of growth", and relied on numbers to support his arguments, according to the PEC.

Crescendo

PEC reviewers picked out a differing style in the concluding sentences of the two speeches.

Gordon Brown was chancellor for 10 years before getting the top job

In 2007, Mr Brown's speech built to a crescendo, whereas Mr Darling finished with a number of short statements to review the key points of the speech.

Steve Jenner, PEC spokesman, said: "The 2008 Budget does seem to make an attempt to use more straightforward language than the 2007 Budget.

"However, we would still call for the government to consider producing a plain English draft of the speech to go on the government's website, alongside the text of the speech."

The PEC has produced its own 40-paragraph summary of Mr Darling's speech.