Well I - for one - am impressed. Before yesterday, I didn't think it was possible for anybody to take so long to say so little. One MP leaked to the Rat and Mouse that Darling's aids handed out little doodling pads and pencils shortly before the speech. On the television coverage, I saw one backbencher with a PSP.

With the content, I was less impressed. Here was an opportunity for the government to look closer at stamp duty and, with house prices falling, really provide an opportunity to first-time buyers to jump on the property ladder. They didn't take it. Shared equity is just that... shared with the government... and the UK's key workers, while important, are only a small proportion of those struggling to buy homes or live near enough to where they work. It will be the failure to properly refocus stamp duty that will be seen as one of this budget's greatest disappointments.

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