A windfall of hope

TO the hopeless crystal-ball gazers at the Office for Budget Responsibility, it’s a huge embarrassment that they appear to have wildly underestimated tax receipts.

But for Chancellor Philip Hammond, the expected £13billion windfall is a wonderful opportunity to lift the nation’s spirits in Monday’s Budget.

Certainly, he should press on with his crackdown on tax-dodging tech giants, to help curb borrowing and meet his £20billiona-year commitment to the NHS.

But let’s hear no more about his rumoured plans to raid pensions, squeeze middle-income taxpayers or impose VAT on school fees.

This is his chance for imaginative measures such as injecting new life into the high street by easing business rates. If he lets the economy breathe, growth will do the rest.