The Chancellor prepared the ground for a general election campaign in which the Conservatives accuse Labour of being feckless.
The address delivered by Jeremy Hunt to the House of Commons this afternoon.
Key policies included a 2p cut to national insurance, extensions of the alcohol and fuel duty freezes, and the abolition of the non-dom tax status.
Meanwhile Penny Mordaunt overleaps Kemi Badenoch to take top billing after being front and centre in the row over Speaker Hoyle a couple of weeks ago.
It’s going to take a lot more than a few pennies off National Insurance to save the Conservative Party from what looks set to be a looming election defeat.
Just over one fifth preferred no increase in the military budget and more tax cuts. Grant Shapps’ demands for more cash have cut through with members – but show little sign of having persuaded the Treasury.
Hunt played down expectations of large tax cuts in the Budget, saying he aims to be “prudent and responsible”.
The Chancellor says “the economies that are growing fastest [globally]… tend to be the ones with lower taxes”.
Not only would passing a tax cut disproportionately helpful to London and the South-East be an admission of defeat in the Red Wall, but it would provide Labour with an easy attack line in the autumn.
Budget tax cuts would be disingenuous. Any headroom would be based on earlier tax hikes and further increases and cuts after the election. But are Tory MPs at all interested in the long-term sustainability of the public finances?
The Business Secretary showed her fans that she would make a marvellously entertaining Prime Minister.
The common expectation is that inflation will fall below the Bank’s target rate of 2 per cent by April. Downing Street will hope rates are falling sooner rather than later, even if that means before the target is met.
The task of changing public opinion falls to the wider conservative movement – to pressure groups, think-tanks, columnists, and associated auxiliaries. The trouble is that, at the moment, most of the people in those categories are training their fire on the Conservative Party.
Ministers have no business giving British investors bad investment advice; much less forcing them to follow that advice.