Overall, a strong package

The Pre-Budget Report was a bit like Budget day, but with fewer real rabbits from the hat. The Chancellor did well to set out not only the giveaways but how it would be paid for. There were also well-judged measures for businesses, on the environment, for families and for pensioners. I still wonder just how much impact the VAT cut will really have. But it will hopefully give people confidence in the run-up to Christmas, alongside rises in pensions and child benefit. And nobody can now repeat the Tory rubbish about a tax bombshell. For George Osborne, it was a shrill shrieking response suggesting more concern about pre-rehearsed slogans than the economy. His days must surely be numbered.