Time was when a chancellor had to resign for leaking the Budget – Hugh Dalton famously lost his job after telling a reporter a few details of what he was about to deliver. Dalton assumed it was past the newspaper’s deadline, but he was wrong. Nowadays, it seems to have become customary for chancellors to leak beforehand, just leaving a ‘rabbit in the hat’ for the day itself. Therefore, we should take seriously reports in the Times this morning that Jeremy Hunt has abandoned plans to cut income tax, inheritance tax or stamp duty next week and instead intends to limit himself to a further one pence reduction in National Insurance Contributions (NICs). A tax on vaping liquids also seems to be on the cards.
Does he think it will be enough to turn around the polls and allow the Tories to win the election? Probably not.
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