There is a limit to what can fairly and sensibly be achieved by raising other taxes and cutting public spending – especially when it comes to pay.
The carnage in the markets is a reminder that she will need all the support from Conservative MPs she can get. That will require handling them with more tact and skill than she has shown so far.
He will need to outline clearly his fiscal principles, so the market understands the commitment to fiscal discipline through reducing the ratio of debt to GDP.
As one Cabinet Minister put it to me recently, the Treasury has never been interested in growth, just in collecting taxes.
Above all, to what extent will he present a clear plan and message? My starter for ten is “help hard-working people and go for more growth”.
The Government seems to have no plan to communicate as cost of living woes multiply. Here’s a first stab at one.
The shock-absorber is a looser fiscal policy. Although the budget deficit is higher than one would like, the good news is that it is falling sharply.
In response to William Atkinson’s scepticism last week, here the Director of the Adam Smith Institute makes the case for consols.
His Spring Statement was a missed opportunity despite some welcome measures – and further measures may be unveiled during the months ahead.
My instinct last week was that he tried too hard to please the Tory press. Nothing’s that’s happened since has suggested otherwise.
A key economic problem during the 1980s was union power. Now it is weak incentives to move and retrain.
At a time of pressure on public spending, delivering efficiency savings is especially important.
The Chancellor should not feel constrained by the OBR’s forecasts into limiting the actions he can take.
Pandemic and war, like two horsemen of the Apocalypse, leave the Chancellor scrabbling for a response.
The Government should be more worried about the balance of payments deficit than about the government deficit. We cannot rely on the goodwill of foreigners. We need to start to close the gap and reduce our demands on foreign currency markets.