THE BRITISH government's intent ion to place legislation for a complete ban on handguns at the centre of the queen's speech on Wednesday has angered sporting associations, which have said they will launch legal action if they are not properly compensated.
Meanwhile, before his meeting with European Finance Ministers in Brussels today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Gordon Brown, has discussed significant welfare and tax reforms which will form Labour's first budget for 18 years.
The government's Firearms Bill would ban all handguns of .22 calibre and below and, although Labour MPs will be granted a free vote on the issue, with such a large majority in the House of Commons it is expected to become law before the second anniversary of the Dunblane school massacre in March, 1998.
Despite the wishes of some cabinet colleagues who wanted to delay the bill, the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, is understood to have pushed for its inclusion as a signal of support for the communities of Dunblane and Hungerford, both of which suffered from mass shootings.
The bill is more comprehensive in its ban than that produced by the Tory government which banned the private ownership of all handguns except .22 calibre pistols, which continued to be used in gun clubs. As the antigun campaigner, Ms Gill Marshall Andrews, of the Gun Control Network, welcomed the bill as a positive move she urged the government to include a minimum age of "18, if not 21" for gun ownership.
However, Mr Michael Yardley, of the Sportsman's Association, hinted that the government could expect legal action if gun owners were not compensated for losing their guns. There are also fears about the ban's effect on shooting as an Olympic sport in Britain.
Meanwhile, as speculation increases over the date of the budget - the most likely being June 10th - more details have emerged of plans to alter radically the tax and welfare systems.
Central to Labour's budget plan is a one off windfall tax on the privatised utilities designed to raise more than £3 billion to fund a welfare to work programme which Mr Brown hopes will reduce the number of unemployed people by 50,000.
Indicating that the budget would take a "long termism" view of taxation, Mr Brown said changes to capital gains tax and corporation tax would encourage sensible share ownership rather than speculative, "fast buck" investments. Mr Brown has also promised a Bill to release £5 billion in capital receipts from the sale of council houses to begin a wide ranging social housing programme and legislation to help single parents return to work.
But the former Tory Chancellor, Mr Kenneth Clarke, dismissed Mr Brown's proposals as "dangerous". "The trouble is he is in a tearing hurry the trouble is he has surrounded himself with too many politicos."