“This was a shameless piece of pre election spin, which was rightly labelled by Michael Howard as a “vote now pay later budget”. To believe Gordon Brown, you would have to ignore the effects on hard working families of 66 tax rises in recent years.

Just as in 2001, hand outs and tax cuts are offered immediately before an election but, if Labour gets re elected, it will be followed tax rises because there is a vast black hole in his figures.

There was nothing in the budget for more police, for tackling truancy and indiscipline in schools and more seriously, no attempt to address the collapse in pension provision which has seen us go from having one of the strongest provisions in the EU to one of the weakest.

Typically, it is only when the Chancellor sits down that you find out what is behind the bravado. For example, his £200 rebate on Council Tax for pensioners is, it now turns out, only for one year. The Conservative pledge of a 50% cut for pensioners is for every year.

I welcome the provision for bus travel for pensioners, which will go some way to reverse cuts in concessionary fares by the Lib Dems in West Berkshire. Of course, it only helps pensioners in towns or villages with a regular bus service.

In summary, this Budget underlines the choice for voters in the coming election: higher taxes and more waste under Labour or lower taxes and cutting waste under the Conservatives.”