Though both the IMF and the Treasury are quick to stress that deficit reduction is the right thing to do, it’s not going to be as pleasant as the Chancellor will have us believe. Ronald Reagan asked to be judged on whether you were richer at the end of his medicine or before, but George will probably want to avoid that particular campaign slogan, given the IMF warn that British households will apparently be £1,500 worse off each year of the slowing recovery.

It’s still steady as we go though, unless the UK experiences “a prolonged period of weak growth and high unemployment”, when an additional plan could be called for. Not the one Labour drone on about though, with a slow down in cuts, but Plan A+, with added tax-cuts to complement the state trimming…

Which isn’t the worst idea Guido has ever heard…