Places his focus on the future

More borrowing: Before the Budget Philip Hammond was already in a fiscal straight jacket, but the straps have been further tightened due to the downgrade in the economic forecasts, not least productivity. The revision in the latter translates to £90bn of additional borrowing between this year and 2021/22.

However, offsets elsewhere mean relative to March the Chancellor is borrowing an extra £44bn between the last fiscal year and 2021/22. An additional £26bn is now pencilled in for the following year. As a result, there will be an extra £70bn of borrowing.

More spending: Given the fragile nature of UK politics, the Chancellor resisted being bold and introducing unpopular tax rises. Instead, he has embarked on more spending and eased the tax burden in a number of targeted areas. All of this has been funded by additional borrowing. The three key areas attracting more spend are Brexit preparations, the NHS and housing. The former is to receive an extra £3bn over the next two years.

The NHS will get over £6bn in new funding and it was stated that additional money would be made available for an NHS pay deal. This would see an easing in the current 1% per annum pay cap. Northern Ireland will receive an extra £660m over the next three years in the Block Grant.

Northern Ireland more prominent: It is perhaps unsurprising that Northern Ireland got more of a mention in this Budget than last. This included the additional money for an NI Executive to spend — though this still means that Northern Ireland’s budget will continue falling in real terms.

We also heard the Chancellor refer to a city deal for Belfast and a review to be completed by the next Budget in relation to air passenger duty and VAT for hospitality and tourism.

The Chancellor joked with the Prime Minister about cough sweets in reference to her infamous conference speech. However, what was clear from the Budget was that the public finances remain no laughing matter and productivity looks set to continue to act as a choke on the recovery. Back to the future, and austerity and Brexit beckon.

❝ Productivity looks set to continue to act as a choke on the recovery