Previous Message

Over the past 14 years the public realm has been cut to the bone. Nothing really works or at least works well and key areas are in absolute crisis such as the prisons and social care. The last government cynically through money at unfunded tax cuts that they could have only funded by a new wave of austerity.

The budget is the first step to fixing that. Those who complain about raising cash through employers' NI, CGT and other measures that hit the better off need to specify where they think the money to invest in public services should have come from. Unless, of course, they think the status quo is acceptable.

For those who say it's not enough, well yes it isn't. But this was already a big tax-raising budget and anything more ambitious would have raised debt to unaffordable levels and spooked the bond markets (as per Liz Truss).

The trade-offs have risks and you can't please all the people all of the time, but this was as good a budget for ordinary people as circumstances allowed.