Yesterday’s cartoon mocking David Ruffley’s train jumping has variously been described as ‘indefensible’, ‘sick’ and ‘a step too far’. The cartoonist is delighted.

Some, who really shouldn’t, laughed, others ranted, texted and threatened. Will Ruffley be harmed in any way? No. Political cartoons have offended people for centuries, long may it continue. Please don’t bother complaining, go to Tate Britain instead and see some really rude cartoons…

Given the last thirteen budgets have been dominated by cheap tactics and false flags, it was  no surprise George Osborne had a trick up his sleeve. Well closer to his collar actually:

The cunning coin-keeper chose a tie of bluey/green today which caused a bit of headache for Ladbrokes who were offering bets on both blue and green and had to pay up for both. At least someone was a winner out of this budget.

The VAT rise and freezing child benefit across the board will be the headlines tomorrow morning. It’s a painful budget but a million people out of income tax is pretty “progressive”. The Corporation Tax cut will probably bring in more money than the current rate does now, something Harman clearly could not grasp. While VAT is irritating, booze and fags are protected, not that they could have gone up much more. A council tax freeze was long overdue. However the hike in Capital Gains Taxation to 28% is Cable’s fiscal spanner in the works, unlikely to reap more revenue and hits the prudent.

Hearing CGT up, Corporation Tax down. No news yet on VAT.

UPDATE: Clearly the no smiles memo was circulated:

Labour are running round like headless chickens this morning. Alastair Darling has had a lie-in, attack dogs like Liam Byrne are nowhere to be seen, while Harman and the leadership candidates are all trying to get a look in. The airwaves have no-one of economic authority to hand from the opposition benches.

Foolishly they are really overlooking one MP who could coordinate and streamline their attacks and message. Where is the man who “abolished boom and bust”? The “best man for the job”? The man who kept debt low, who invested for the future, who fought for fairness and Britain every day. The man who “made all the right calls”, the man of “substance”.

Where is “the great clunking fist” and why isn’t he “getting on with the job” the taxpayers pay him to do?

In 2007 Chris Huhne was asked by his local paper about the Mark Oaten sex scandal…

“I’m very comfortable with my life, so nothing like that will emerge…”

Government spending is approaching 50% of GDP, taxation is almost 40% of GDP and the consequent budget deficit is unsustainable. The choice is either taxes rise to finance government spending or government spending is reduced to balance the budget in line with tax revenues.

The British economy can not support a level of taxation above 40% of GDP, investment and enterprise would be driven away. To pay down the government’s debts we need a growing economy, creating wealth and tax revenues. We are already over-taxed, the productive sector of the economy is intolerably burdened by taxation to pay for the unproductive. If we want to grow the economy and balance the budget we can’t risk further increasing the overall tax burden.

Increasing VAT will reduce consumption, punish the High Street and burden the poor more than the rich. Before the election the Coalition’s leading political figures were asked time and time again: would they raise VAT? Time and time again they said they had no such plans. Trust in politicians is at a low, if George Osborne raises VAT or widens the scope of the tax he will be doing so without a mandate and it will betray what little trust was placed in his oft repeated claim that he did not plan to raise VAT.

Worst of all, it will take money out of the economy which could undermine the recovery. The City is not asking for tax hikes, the gilt market only wants spending control and the polls say the public favour spending cuts. George, the choice is clear, bring the economy into balance by controlling spending, reducing the tax burden and going for economic growth…