CHANCELLOR Jeremy Hunt has scattered some scraps before the electorate in the hope of saving Tory skins at the forthcoming general election. All the signs are that it’s not working.
Nor does this zombie budget deserve to work.

The headline-grabbing bribes are worth more to the rich than to the poor. Yet even the Chancellor’s remaining friends in the City are unimpressed, if not downright sceptical. And with good reason, as Wednesday’s economic and fiscal outlook suggests.

In an unusually blunt summary near the beginning of its report, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) highlights the serious risks that could derail almost all present-day assumptions, estimates and forecasts, including those of the Chancellor and of the OBR itself.

As the report admits: “Historically large changes in energy prices, interest rates, wage growth and population growth have driven significant revisions to our recent economic and fiscal forecasts.”