Budgetary comments from the tabloids.

The Times: “Mr Darling did not explain how the Government will ultimately reduce borrowing, on the ground that only when the economy is growing will the Treasury be able to see how best to expand its revenues. He felt no such compunction about telling the well-off where they will hurt.”

Financial Times: “The Government’s plan to tax the top earners is clearly intended to wrong-foot the Tories. Instead, we need a serious, clear discussion about what broadly based tax increases should look like.”

Daily Telegraph: “No budget in recent memory has prompted the level of public anger that has greeted Wednesday’s statement. It has finally become clear to the people of this country that Labour’s reckless stewardship of the economy, combined with the banking collapse, has burdened not only them but also their children with a seemingly insurmountable mountain of debt.”

The Sun: “Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse... it did. Motorists were stung with a shock increase in petrol duty in Alistair Darling’s crisis Budget. With workers already facing National Insurance rises next year, Labour’s tax increases — drinkers and smokers were also clobbered — mean families will be tightening their belts for some time.” 

Daily Mail: “How much longer can Labour go on pandering to its core vote, at the expense of the national interest? Yes, the Mail welcomes such help as the Chancellor promised to pensioners, the long-term jobless, savers and small businesses – precious little though it was. But this was a Budget that tinkered at the edges of Britain’s problems, while refusing to look the truth in the face.”