Budget Sketch: David Parkin on the aspirations of the Chancellor

THEY say when you are in a hole, stop digging.

George Osborne, faced with huge pressures in today’s Budget, decided to throw away his shovel and jump aboard a digger.

The Chancellor’s Help to Buy scheme is a boost to the long-suffering housebuilding sector and would-be homebuyers frustrated by a housing market frozen by a lack of decent mortgage deals.

Faced with severe limitations on what he could do to sweeten things in the Budget, it was universally recognised that Mr Osborne couldn’t pull any rabbits from his red Budget box and would be lucky to be able to even scatter any crumbs in the pond for the ducks.

However he did produce a few surprises and businesses will get the benefit, in the main.

The new Employment Allowance will mean that the first £2,000 of any firm’s National Insurance bill is waived, which particularly helps small firms looking to take on a few new staff.

Scrapping stamp duty on investments in the Alternative Investment Market will provide some help to smaller quoted companies.

And there were cheers all round when Mr Osborne scrapped the beer duty escalator and followed it up with a penny off a pint.

It certainly left Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls shaking his head and chuntering enough to earn a couple of serious rebukes from the Deputy Speaker.

Given most agreed that the Chancellor had nowhere to go today, he confidently delivered a Budget with more than most expected.

After a performance like that, perhaps the Chancellor deserves a holiday.

They say Cyprus is nice at this time of year.