Budget 2004: The great growth gamble goes on

Dull though this Budget was, the big surprise was that the Chancellor chose not to raise money but rather to give it away. Admittedly, the amounts are tiny – some £700m, making a net giveaway since the last budget of just under £2bn. But the fact that there was any giveaway at all suggests that the Chancellor is confident that his fiscal forecasts will be met – or that if they are not, then there is still some fudge room left to enable him to say that his Golden Rule has not been broken.