Osborne raided Universal Credit budgets, but it’s Hammond who is suffering the hangover

The prospect of millions of families losing out financially makes ministers jittery – as, presumably, those briefing the press intend.

Howard Flight: This Conservative Government has slipped towards socialism – the rot must be stopped

The tax take is at its highest ever, and yet the Government is looking at ways to raise yet more taxes.

Rosalind Beck: The Government’s attack on private landlords is misguided

Unfair tax increases and restrictions will reduce the housing supply and make homelessness worse.

What Brokenshire is up to as Communities Secretary, sorry, Housing Secretary, sorry, Communities Secretary

He wants to take people with him in his quest to hit the Government’s target. But will radical policy ideas fit with his emollient political approach?

J.P.Floru: In defence of tax havens. May’s threat to the British Overseas Territories is un-Conservative.

Do we really want them either to declare independence, or else become benefit claimants, funded by British taxpayers?

Javid. Muslim, Brexit adaptee, comeback kid – and not a May protege. Her Home Office era is over.

The new Home Secretary won’t toe the Downing Street line as his predecessor did. His appointment is thus a sign of weakness at the top.

WATCH: “The best [economic] modelling in the world is wrong”, Davis tells the Brexit committee

The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union cites the way in which the OBR repeatedly fails to predict the deficit as an example of inevitable modelling errors.

Whatever happened to the Big Society? 1) Steve Moore: It could have worked had spending been cut Canada-Style

We must keep asking: ‘what’s the right level to pursue social repair?’ The nation is too large; the individual is too small. The community remains the right place.

Profile: Esther McVey, who scares and infuriates Labour by reaching the northerners it has neglected

The Work and Pensions Secretary has a genuine belief in social mobility and is magnificently unabashed under fire.

May the builder?

If she really is to “dedicate my premiership” to fixing housing growth and home ownership, she will need to throw a chunk of her caution to the winds.

Rejoice! At long last, the day-to-day Government finances are in surplus.

It’s later than Osborne planned, but good news nonetheless. Now Hammond must hold the course, and resist siren calls to start splashing the cash.

Votes at 16. Handle with care.

We feel a commission, a working group, an inquiry coming in – to look these inconsistencies, accidents of history and quirks, to see if some tidying-up is required.

Henry Newman: Amidst the row about neutrality, a big question looms. Is the civil service up to delivering Brexit effectively?

Whitehall has at times imperilled its reputation for neutrality, but there remains a positive ‘can-do’ attitude about Brexit. The Government should harness it.

Adrian Mason: Westminster has ignored Welsh voters to give Cardiff Labour ‘more powers’

The electorate have never had the chance to vote on whether the Assembly should have tax powers, and local politicians fought hard to prevent it. It’s no mystery why.

Peter Franklin: Ruling political tribes 2) The Conservatives. Gove is now in a position to emerge as kingmaker – or, just maybe, as King.

But unless his fully-developed vision of the future can capture heart-and-minds, I’d expect control of the party to stay with the mainstream.