David Gauke: Is Britain really set to become a low tax, less regulated, free trading, buccaneering country?

Despite a surprisingly liberal migration policy, the bulk of the post-Brexit evidence so far suggests not.

Looking back at the Budget a week on, its plan for growth is not convincing

The Government can’t deliver levelling up without more supply-side change, localism and public service reform.

Alan Mak: A week on from the Budget, it’s clear that it will boost innovation and productivity

Providing small businesses with technology and training will accelerate our recovery from Coronavirus.

Neil O’Brien: Lessons we can learn from fast-growing countries to help us to grow faster

Japan, Korea, Taiwan and now China, have all invested heavily in new technologies – through government support for new industries.

ConHome’s survey. Johnson’s rating for handling Covid reaches its highest since last spring.

And the Chancellor’s score survives the Budget relatively intact: his score is down, but there is no sudden collapse.

Our survey. A majority of respondents back Sunak’s Budget. Under one in ten say it was bad.

Fifty eight per cent think was good or very good; 34 per cent a mix of good and bad.

Iain Dale: The EU has no interest in Northern Ireland’s future prosperity. It just sees it as a mechanism to exert its power.

Plus: Say what you like about Trump, but he had a better slogan than Clinton. And: Sunak’s budget was disappointing.

Are Johnson and Sunak preparing the way for a snap election in 2023?

The Budget was, if truly honest, a sign that the Government shuns spending cuts and embraces tax rises – which is ultimately unsustainable.

Andrew Gimson’s Budget sketch: The Chancellor quotes Tennyson and delivers a lesson in levelling up

The Prime Minister listened supportively, but jiggled his right knee up and down in a manner suggestive of unbearable mental tension.

“I do want to be honest about what I mean by sustainable public finances”. Sunak’s statement. Full text.

His three part plan: protecting jobs and livelihoods. Securing the public finances. And laying foundations for the future.

WATCH: Starmer targets the Chancellor in his response

Sunak is clearly the politician that alarms Labour – and the Opposition leader went for him personally over Covid and lockdowns.

WATCH: “These are significant decisions…I recognise they might not be popular.” Sunak presents his tax rises.

“Let’s consider the alternatives. The first is to do nothing. To leave our deficit problem untreated. Our debt problem for someone else in future to deal with.”

Warwick Lightfoot: Today’s Budget. Conservatives should not be afraid of public borrowing to ensure a rapid recovery.

Preventing as much long-term damage to the economy as possible now should be the Chancellor’s priority.

Ryan Bourne: Why is Sunak so taken with tax hikes – when the tax burden is forecast to be its heaviest for 70 years?

Conservative messaging implies an implicit belief that there are no major state functions ripe for reform in any fiscal repair.

The Budget should be a big reset moment for post-Brexit, post-Covid Britain. It risks being lost amidst a rush to tax rises.

It will probe whether or or not Sunak can prepare the country for that future – and perhaps succeed Johnson himself, “one fine day”.