Cracking stuff from George and Gromit?

WHEN the Chancellor decides to include a reference to cartoon characters Wallace and Gromit in his Budget speech then that perhaps shows he’s a man with confidence in his plans.

Despite dealing with an economy that shows no signs of upturn and a deficit still looming like a Wererabbit, George Osborne performed with aplomb today as he negotiated another Budget tightrope act.

He opened his speech by saying his Budget rewards work, “unashamedly backs business” and was “on the side of aspiration”.

And 58 minutes later he closed by taking a final swipe at the Opposition saying they had “borrowed their way into trouble and now we will earn our way out”.

Many of the key announcements had been widely trailed so there were few surprises. The Chancellor continued the theme he set last year by pushing further forward with measures to support business.

They sounded good but as every commentator says every Budget day: “The devil is in the detail.”

Further support for the digital and film sector gave him the opportunity to introduce animated favourites Wallace and Gromit to the speech and he took one of several cartoon side swipes at Labour when he said their sell off of Britain’s gold a decade ago raised £2bn when those  assets would have been worth £13bn today.

Osborne gives the impression of a man with a plan. The future performance of the economy will show whether that is the case.

So as Wallace might have said, “Cracking performance George”. Whether it is a cracking good job remains to be seen.