It’s the last Budget before the election tomorrow and there are just a few days left of the Coalition. Which is why it is hardly surprising that a few of the pre-Budget briefings aren’t so much briefings designed to bag policies a bit more coverage but leaks by one party designed to embarrass the other.
The Tories had been working on their inheritance tax policy for the Budget but will instead announce it in their election campaign because of Lib Dem opposition. But that hasn’t stopped ‘sources’ leaking Treasury analysis of the planned cut to the tax to the Guardian, and saying ‘this looks like a policy to buy more Tory votes to help the wealthy and would be highly regressive in its impact on society’. Those ‘sources’ don’t sound very Tory, do they?
Across Whitehall over the past month or so Tories have been finding that previous coalicious ministers have become a great deal more hostile. This might be annoying for them but what is more striking is just how civil the end of this Coalition is turning out to be. One-party governments have had far worse rounds of hostile briefings in their dying days.
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