Well, that was excitingly unexciting. There was little in George Osborne’s Budget
that we didn’t expect, either in terms of rhetoric or policy. But it still felt new and different nonetheless. Here we had a Chancellor setting out exactly how much spending he will
cut, and putting plenty of emphasis on both our deficit and debt burdens. It drew a stark contrast with the Brown years, and was a solidly understated performance in itself.
There will be plenty of attention paid to the hike in VAT, and rightly so. But there were some macroeconomic forecasts which were just as eyecatching. In his address, Osborne suggested that the deficit on “current spending” would be obliterated by the end of this Parliament – not halved, not more-than-halved, but completely written off. And, to go with that, he suggested that the overall debt burden would start falling over the same time period – although I’d like to check whether that’s just debt as a percentage of GDP, or debt as a cash figure.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in