Darling's budget a damp squib

6.25.00pm GMT Mon 24th Nov 2008

The government's emergency economic measures won't help.

Alistair Darling's emergency budget is a damp squib that will do very little to help the economy. The Government has missed a golden opportunity to cut income taxes for those on low and middle incomes. The reduction in VAT is too small to have any impact.

Giving people some of their own money back would have done more to stimulate the economy than a marginal reduction in spending tax. Anyway, the reduction in VAT is more-or-less cancelled out by increases in tax on petrol, alcohol and tobacco. And the sting in the tail is an increase in national insurance contributions, which is the last thing we need at a time of rising unemployment.