For a chancellor who billed his budget as a moment to kickstart the UK’s economic rebirth after the pandemic, Rishi Sunak’s hour-long speech lacked substance.
A reform of alcohol duties – which seemed to excite the teetotal Sunak enough to visit a brewery immediately after the speech – may help the drinks industry, but it was a distraction too far for many business leaders. They were left in the dark about the overall strategy and how policies were likely to be implemented.
The much-vaunted “levelling up” agenda remains a largely unclear, if not confused, concept. The fresh pots of money Sunak offered to councils to improve their high streets and to metro mayors to widen local transport networks could not disguise the lack of focus.
Looking
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