Chancellors often seem to imagine themselves as captains of a mighty ship.
They stand at the bow, nudging the UK economy here and there, skilfully avoiding icebergs and prodding the ship faster forwards when the opportunity arises.
In reality, the course was set by predecessors and old events and they have very little wiggle room. The best they can hope is to create as much space as possible for themselves to do big things well.
That might make them look like they are mostly doing nothing, so they tinker.
The Sunday Times reports that Jeremy Hunt is to push ahead with plans to cut research and development tax relief for small firms in the Budget. Maybe this is a good idea, though it is hard to immediately see why.
How much does the Chancellor expect to save from this move? About £215 million. From a Government spending pot of perhaps £900 billion.In other words, almost nothing.
It’s a footling measure, the best of which can be said for it is that it might not do too much damage. It hardly makes a difference to Government finances.
Perhaps it frees up £200 million that Hunt can chuck at pet projects — new cricket pitches at schools in south London. A bridge in Doncaster.These things are fine in themselves but they don’t lead to actual changes in the economy or in most people’s lives.
Perhaps the rule should be this: if the Chancellor’s exciting new plan costs or saves less than £25 billion, it is waste of time. It’s a man on a ship mucking about because he knows the true direction of travel is out of his control.
