Why the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt wants this Budget to be boring
On the one hand the current year will look far less malign than it did in the autumn. Falls in energy prices and government borrowing costs will mean a milder downturn, less immediate borrowing, and some scope for one-off giveaways.
So far, the UK economy has dealt with the simply awful energy shock sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine far better than expected. This could be because some consumers have been supported by extra savings during the pandemic. Or it still might prove to be a shuffling of the pain into the future through rising credit card borrowing and other types of debt.
Longer term, the government is looking to boost UK nuclear power to increase energy security, and has said it will invest £20bn in carbon capture and storage over 20 years as part of net zero targets.I would also expect a few billions of pounds in top-ups to public sector pay settlements, though this may not be a formal part of the Budget process. The government looks to be in settlement mode.
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