'For all the dire warnings, the Budget had plenty to cheer about'

'If you’re wealthy enough to put loads of your pay packet into a tax-advantaged pension pot you can definitely afford to pay a bit more'

The run-in to the Budget has been politically damaging and economically doom-laden. But for all the dire warnings, the Budget had plenty to cheer about.

Delivering the £30billion of tax rises is no easy task - but nor too is cutting social security and funding for public services, as others have called for as alternatives.

The single biggest tax rise was a tried and tested one poached from the previous government – freezing personal tax thresholds.

While commonly described as a ‘stealth tax’ after the latest extension it will run for nine straight years, and by the end of the decade will raise a distinctly ‘unstealthy’ £67 billion. A typical worke