The Budget

As valedictory Budget statements go, this one did not disappoint. Alistair Darling may lack Gordon Brown’s verbal chutzpah, but he made full use of Labour’s arsenal of debt and tax concealment tricks, all of which have been carefully honed by this government since 1997. The most important points were buried in the fine print, missing altogether or assumed away thanks to growth and revenue forecasts so optimistic that they would have made even Lehman Brothers’ accountants blush.

The central ‘achievement’ of this Budget — that the deficit this year will be £167 billion rather than £178 billion — is something which any self-respecting Chancellor should be deeply ashamed about. This sum still represents an overspend of 11.8 per cent of national income, the highest which Britain has known in its peacetime history. The national debt continues to explode. Interest payments on the national debt jumped by two thirds last month to £3.6