Five tricks that George Osborne may pull in his Budget tomorrow

It’s Budget day tomorrow, and as James Forsyth put it recently, George Osborne will never have a better time to do bad things. The Labour party is a complete mess, the quality of scrutiny will be pretty ropey. So if he’s going to pull a fast one, now’s the time. Gordon Brown’s budgets were famous for having a lollipop (a goodie, briefed out to the press) and several weasels (nasties, heavily disguised in the small print). Now, Osborne may well be honest about his good and bad news tomorrow. But his Treasury staff, schooled by years of Brown’s shenanigans, may have persuaded him that the best way to deliver bad news is to conceal it. I like to think that the Chancellor will be honest, and deliver a Budget speech that is a fair reflection of the good and bad news in his Budget. But you never know. So here’s what we’ll be looking out for:

1.