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.

“Under this Conservative Government austerity is coming to an end – but discipline will remain.” – Hammond’s Budget speech, full text

“Now we have reached a defining moment on this, long, hard journey. Opening a new chapter in our country’s economic history.”

George Maggs: How to reform the NHS. It needs independence. Hypothecated funds. And a constitution.

People will not accept any arrangement that isn’t funded through the tax system and free at the point of use. So we have to find a way of making the current model work.

Iain Dale: Don’t believe claims of fewer EU nationals and doctors since the Brexit vote

Plus: We need a Housing Minister who will do for new homes what Michael Heseltine did with development corporations in the 1980s.

Hammond’s economicky survivorish escapy Budget

The lack of a Conservative Commons majority prevented the Chancellor from doing much more than playing it safe – which he did effectively.

John O’Connell: The Tory Manifesto. It should commit to scrapping HS2, ending the triple lock – and reforming the NHS.

This first piece of a mini-series on what should be in the manifesto argues that the Conservatives must get serious about living within our means.

Peter Lilley: That £350 million figure. The EU’s negotiating position shows it to be less of an exaggeration than has been claimed.

It makes spending commitments which exceed the amounts it budgets to spend. Those escalating commitments…will approach E250 billion by the time we leave.

Putting ‘independent’ experts in control of immigration policy would be a mistake

It’s always tempting for politicians to outsource important decisions. But it doesn’t work.

The Autumn Statement – and why forecasting a cost of Brexit is bunk

The OBR’s assessment is “consistent with a range of possible outcomes that we can keep under review in future forecasts”. In other words, it’s sorry – but it hasn’t a clue.

Gove flays Osborne. But is he now the Chancellor’s leadership candidate?

The occupant of Number 11 may seek to become what Margaret Thatcher claimed to be after she was brought down: “a good back seat driver”.

Less a Budget for renewal than a Budget for the referendum

It felt more like a pre-election than a post-election one – and was shot through by a sense of the Chancellor’s political mortality.

Ryan Bourne: When Clegg claimed over two in five families are vulnerable. And other thoughts on this election campaign

Plus: The OBR isn’t needed to audit manifestos. The SNP’s sleight-of-hand on austerity. A lack of debate on healthcare. And: don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Lord Green: How the Guardian got it wrong on immigration

It’s front page story exactly a week ago misrepresented an Office of Budget Responsibility report. (P.S: The OBR isn’t doing too well itself either.)

David Gauke MP: Five years of tough economic decisions are paying off

Compare the state of the nation today to how things were when I first became a Treasury Minister and it’s clear how far we’ve come.