Politics | 25 April 2009

All Labour budgets are essentially works of deception, and Alistair Darling’s speech on Wednesday was no exception. Once again, the Chancellor deployed the normal, tiresome formula: pyrotechnics intended to distract voters from an ugly truth lurking in the small print. Except this time, the distractions were obvious fakes. No one seriously believes the British economy will be helped by a bribe for buying an imported car. And the truth was the ugliest Britain has been told in its peacetime history: that the nation’s finances are in freefall.

By the time you have finished reading this sentence, the national debt will have increased by some £14,000 — rising by £175 billion this year and £173 billion next. It is a bowel-loosening sum, and will be followed by comparable figures in subsequent years. Gordon Brown has no intention of suddenly abstaining from the state spending he worked so hard to drive up. The Budget protects government from any serious cuts, and proposes to saddle us with a collective debt of £1.3