On energy, there is some significance to the “cheaper power” mission announced, reshaping what had previously been a focus on clean power.
While still committed to Net Zero, a series of technical changes to powers over levies and renewable auctions, will seek to turn the tide on additional pressures on energy costs.
On devolution, the plan to allow local mayors to keep some extra business rate and income tax revenues, are more radical than expected.
There are trade offs here, but it essentially provides incentives for regional leaders to grow their economies, workforce and tax base, that are normal elsewhere, but have not existed in the UK’s very centralised tax system.
How the PM will square other aspects of his “theory of growth” with the chancellor’s spending constraints is the other significant challenge.
Can he announce a 10-year plan without detailing the Liverpool to Manchester high speed train line, or a rebirth of some cancelled HS2 lines he championed a year ago?
Away from the long term, the OBR forecast point to a very tricky economic backdrop until the spring, and a trickier spending review, given the need to accommodate the new defence target of 3% of national income by 2030.
The PM’s insistence he will not call an election for a year are eminently believable given the risk of 5% inflation and declining household income.
A “focused” Budget at an uncertain time achieved its narrow aim of a bit of “breathing space” for households and also for the government itself.
But the evident gaps in the Budget will need filling in come the PM’s upcoming 10-year plan.
