Sleight of hand.....
Public borrowing is better than expected and so immediately the cries go up to delay or cancel the planned increases in NI contributions.
The calls are just as loud from the right of the Tory party, which claims to be the bastion of Thatcherism but apparently without any idea of what Thatcherism means.
While it was always stupid to claim that like a household a country can’t live beyond its means, it can, does and should; these figures do not show that there is any room for manoeuvre in the finances.
The long term trend of an ageing population and an underfunded NHS, plus a dozen departments that have been unnecessarily eviscerated by a decade of Tory austerity mean that the Chancellor needs more tax revenue not less.
The idea that Margaret Thatcher slashed taxes was always a lie, she actually increased the tax take, but transferred it from income, especially high income and onto expenditure.
But even that sleight of hand was only possible for a short time, the UK wants a Western European style government with American style taxes.
It is and always has been impossible.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.