LONDON : Budget and Blueprint

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont today is expected to present Parliament with a budget that will be not so much a tax-and-spending blueprint as the centerpiece of the Conservative Party’s reelection campaign this year.

Most urgently for the Conservatives, the 1992-1993 budget must hold the promise of a way out of the deep recession that has gripped Britain for more than a year.

The budget is likely to include a tax cut, which Conservatives will be able to contrast with the opposition Labor Party’s plan to raise taxes on upper-income taxpayers.

Britain must hold a general election this spring, and the betting is that the government will choose April 9.