How to claim the credit but warn in the same breath that the good times are far from secure? This was the balancing act at the heart of George Osborne’s Budget. Both messages – that a solid recovery will soon lift living standards in Middle Britain but that the fragile upswing would be threatened by a Labour government – are vital to the Conservatives’ election prospects. The risk is that by over-stressing the first the Tories neutralise the second.
The chancellor got this balance about right on Budget day. Taking credit for the strength of the upswing he also insisted that the job was only half-done. The fiscal deficit has been brought down but completing the task would require a government to keep a tight grip on the nation’s finances...
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