STEPHEN GLOVER: I'm afraid the Budget was cautious when we need flair

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

49% : In two crucial areas -- tax and defence -- Mr Hunt showed that, for all his ingenious grasp of detail, he has somehow failed to rise to the occasion.
48% : Income tax wasn't mentioned -- not once.
45% : The Chancellor didn't remind the Commons that thresholds will be frozen next month, so that people (or at any rate the 63 per cent of adults who pay income tax) are going to feel a lot poorer after months of high inflation.
42% : But does anyone with any sense believe that lifting tax from pension pots, or reforming childcare, are of themselves going to make an enormous difference to growth?
32% : Any Tory Chancellor should surely hang his head in shame to be presiding over taxes that are at their highest ever peacetime level.

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