Budget 2014: Comment

THIS was a Chancellor in the ascendancy.
 
Standing at the despatch box beside a relaxed Prime Minister, George Osborne basked in the glow of warming growth figures and a shrinking deficit as he outlined his fifth Budget.
 
Gone was the furrowed brow of earlier years as his measures to deal with Britain’s wobbly economy were questioned as they took time to work.
 
So comfortable was he, that he was even able to take a few verbal pot shots at the Two Eds on the benches opposite.

Of Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls he said his opposite number tried to avoid much of the blame for the recession and banking bailout with the words: “Some mistakes were made.”
 
When announcing a grant to the Magna Carta Trust, the Chancellor said it harked back to the days of King John, “a weak leader who betrayed his brother”. He barely glanced across at Labour leader Ed Milliband as it said it.
 
The Tories collapsed in fits of laughter and there might even have been a few smirks on the benches opposite.
 
This wasn’t a show-stopping Budget. It was never going to be a year before a General Election.
 
The Chancellor chose to reinforce the austerity approach while underlining his commitment to the Britain of the “maker, doer and saver”.
 
It might not win the Conservatives many votes, but it won’t lose them many either.
 
The time for playing to the gallery is 12 months hence.
 
In the meantime George Osborne will hope the sunny weather of a recovering economy is set fair, at least for another 15 months.

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