Comment: David Parkin on the Budget

WILL the real Chancellor please stand up.

If Alastair Darling was eager to dispel the gossip that Britain's economic policy is dictated by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, then he certainly didn't use his first Budget to do that.

With the PM sitting to his left, Mr Darling's speech echoed the style, the content and lack of spark that the 11 his predecessor at the Treasury had delivered to the country from the despatch box.

It wasn't so much that Britain has never had it so good, more like we're not having it as bad as everywhere else. That is how he framed his downgrading of UK economic growth this year from 2.5% to 2.25%.

And when it came to rehearsing the statistics that Mr Brown was always so fond, the new Chancellor decided that discretion is the better part of valour. He simply compared his economic statistics to those during the reign of the last Tory government between 1979 and 1997. They sounded so much better that way.

No point comparing them to the figures of three or even five years ago because they would not have been favourable.

And when he said that Britain was now spending the highest amount on its armed forces “for a generation”, perhaps it is because we are involved in our first major conflict for a generation.

The Chancellor talked of “the resilience of the British economy” against the buffeting it is getting from economic turbulence. He didn't mention that the uncertainty has not been helped by confusion over his measures on CGT and non-doms announced in the Pre-Budget report. And Northern Rock, not surprisingly, was hardly mentioned.

This was a Budget long on statistics, short on specifics. But thanks to Gordon Brown, we expect that.

The Chancellor accidently announced that the Government had previously announced a cut in Corporation Tax from 38% to 28%. It was actually just a 2% cut from 30% – but the BBC reported the mistake as fact.

This Government still spin things when they don't even mean it.

And as for Mr Darling's claim that London's new Crossrail scheme will boost the British economy by £20bn?

That must sound pretty hollow to those around the country who have seen funding for regional transport schemes – such as the Leeds Supertram – withdrawn.

If the British economy remains resilient then it probably won't be the Chancellor that we thank first for it.