The chancellors budget catastrophe comes at a time when the prime minister needs him to play a pivotal role in the EU debateBritain faces a cocktail of economic risks. Such has been George Osborne’s persistent message since the start of 2016. He talked about the slowdown in China. He fretted about the turmoil in financial markets. He warned that growth was still feeble in the eurozone. What probably never crossed the chancellor’s intellect was that speculation over his own future might be part of the mix.
There is no getting absent from the fact that the budget and its aftermath have been a political and personal catastrophe for Osborne. Even while he was speaking,it was clear that the package would quickly fall to pieces. The budget could only make the sums add up through blatant accounting tricks. It announced tax cuts at the same time as it slit estimates for Britain’s long-term growth potential. Even worse, it if tax breaks for the better off at the same time as it targeted the disabled.
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Source: theguardian.com