George Osborne must resist the temptation to use the Budget unilaterally to try and force multinationals to pay more tax in the UK in an ill-considered way and without consultation. The wheels are already in motion internationally to address contentious issues such as so-called 'profit shifting' and other measures that erode the tax base.
So George Osborne has lost his treasured AAA rating. We are now heading for record consecutive quarters of stop-start growth. Youth unemployment is at an all-time high. Neither the deficit nor the debt is coming down and there's no money to do anything about it. If we want to spend more we have to borrow more, and even Ed Balls can't be sure we'll end up better off if we do.