Let’s Pray For No Rabbits

James has predicted that there will be a good news element to the Budget that no one has yet predicted. I do hope there is good news, but I also hope it isn’t presented with a last-minute flourish. The 10 pence tax fiasco should be warning enough on this front. 

Judged on his set-piece performances so far, however, Alistair Darling is not a rabbit-out-of-the hat kind of guy. I am delighted that the indications so far suggest  he is concentrating on the employment situation and that he has fended off some of the pressure from next door. I fear Matthew is right when he says that there are signs of the Prime Minister’s footprints on the pre-briefings: the phrase “invest to grow” is pure old-fashioned New Labour in this sense.

This is not a Budget for clever tricks and phrasemaking. This should be about practical measures to help individuals and businesses find their own innovative ways out of this mess.