Thawing the benefits freeze

There is a strong case for altering the balance of welfare spending between working people and those retired.

The defectors are wrong. The Conservatives aren’t shifting to the right. They are mired in the mixed middle.

No less than the ERG, the group of three sees everything through the prism of Brexit – which, let it not be forgotten, they voted to support themselves.

Universal Credit. Noble aim, thorny problems – and Rudd’s decision. If the scheme is to work properly, it must be paid for.

If you appoint Duncan Smith to the post she now holds, as Cameron did in 2010, it follows that you must fund his plan fully.

Robert Halfon: How the patronising metropolitan elites wrinkled up their noses at more money for potholes

Plus: Unsung Conservative heroes. The Centre for Rocket Studies. And: why do we need the traditional, three-year University course?

Tom Clougherty: Make Work Pay. A new agenda from the CPS for fairer taxes – including an end to pernicious marginal rates.

If one of a couple claiming the marriage allowance becomes a higher rate taxpayer, there is a 23,800 per cent marginal tax rate on the first penny over the threshold.

Howard Flight: The best part of a week on, we can see that last week’s Budget was a popular one

The Chancellor has been fortunate that the public finances have improved substantially at a particularly convenient time.

George Freeman: There was much to cheer in the Budget. But now we need an inspiring programme for growth.

At the moment, we are treading water and appear to be relying on popular support for Brexit, and the threat of Corbyn, to keep us in office.

A Budget with a message for Conservative MPs. Nice little seat you have there. Pity if anything happened to it.

In sum, Hammond said: vote for May’s Deal – or the economy gets it. But there’s more than one way of dicing the next election result.

John Glen: The Chancellor proved yesterday that the hard work we’ve all put in is paying off

But although the era of austerity is coming to a close, we are emphatically not rejecting the need for ongoing discipline with the public finances.

Hammond has one task only in next week’s Budget. To show that the Government is preparing for No Deal.

The Chancellor’s recent claims of a coming “Deal Dividend” sent the wrong message at the wrong time – and showed up a deep Treasury malaise.

Robert Halfon: Here’s the Worker’s Budget we need next week

In the second article of our mini-series, the Harlow MP calls for a relentless focus on the cost of living, a skills-based economy, social injustices and affordable housing.

Robert Colvile: The boost to home ownership that would come from Help to Own – and the work we’ve been doing on it

Alex Morton and the rest of our research team have spent weeks crunching the numbers to ensure that they stack up

WATCH: Duncan Smith. Universal Credit must be funded properly to be transformative

“For the last two and a half years I’ve proposed that we put the money that has been taken out back in.”

Universal Credit where Universal Credit is due

If the Budget choice this year is between supporting the new system or raising tax thresholds, the answer is a no brainer.

Robert Halfon: No to Ted Clubberlang Conservatism, no to Deliveroo Conservatism, yes to Workers’ Conservatism

That’s you told, Johnson and Truss. Plus: a Universal Credit Brexit Dividend for working families.