Jeremy Hunt faces huge problems but the Chancellor has little money to work with and his party is bitterly divided. Writing a Budget under such circumstances is not an enviable job.
Britain has many issues: we are living through a stagnation in living standards that began with the financial crisis of 2008/9. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts that living standards will fall by almost six per cent over the next two years. Meanwhile public services, particularly the NHS, water, sewage, rail, schools and the courts — are deteriorating.
