It’s a “jam tomorrow” Budget from Chancellor Philip Hammond and is unlikely to fool millions of people who are struggling to get by. They see and experience local services continuing to deteriorate, whether it’s longer waiting times in the NHS, cancelled operations, the closure of facilities for the elderly and young people, school requests for parental donations, the extinguishing of street lights at night or the disappearance of community police officers.

It appears as though the main purpose of the budget was to press-gang MPs and the public into supporting the Tory government’s hoped-for bogus Brexit deal. Hence Hammond’s warning over the weekend that a “no deal” Brexit would mean an emergency replacement Budget that would maintain if not intensify austerity.

It’s an old and impotent trick — his predecessor George Osborne threatened just such an emergency Budget should the people vote Leave in May 2016, although nothing transpired except Osborne’s emergency exit from 11 Downing Street.