Today’s Budget did not include many surprises beyond the ones we flagged up in our FT Westminster checklist. They include a plethora of “pro-business measures” which Vince Cable tells us amount to “small changes culminating in big differences“.

On the fiscal front, looking at the crucial “scorecard” in the Red Book (pages 42-46) you can see that many of the changes are relatively small in financial terms.

They are dwarfed by the following changes – for this year alone – which were already in the pipeline from decisions made last year or earlier.

Money already coming into the Exchequer: NICs is going up for employees (£3.5bn) and for employers (£4.6bn), pensions tax relief is being restricted (£1.2bn) and benefits and tax Read more