Darling’s flat Budget gives Cameron a ready election slogan

The Budget has left Labour MPs feeling flat and given David Cameron the Tory leader a ready slogan for the May elections - 'the cost of living under Labour'. Increases in duty on alcohol and other higher taxes are going to pay for £1bn in measures to tackle child poverty.

But the green taxes - even the power to reduce the use of plastic bags - were delayed, and even an increase in winter fuel allowance for pensioners could not lift Labour morale in spite of the traditional waving of order papers at the end.

The most worrying factor hidden away in the small print of the Budget is the impact of the American sub-prime lending crash. It has wiped £5.5bn off expected tax receipts from stamp duty on shares and Capital Gains Tax. In the longer term, the Chancellor is also having to budget for the impact it will have on property values feeding through into lower inheritance tax receipts.

Cameron rightly said Alistair Darling's downbeat performance had 'all the excitement of reading out the telephone directory'. In a pre-arranged line which is designed as the Tory election slogan, Cameron accused Brown and Darling of being out of touch with ordinary people over the rising cost of living: "Everyone now knows the cost of living under Labour."

The Chancellor concealed a big rise in borrowing by £20bn over the next four years with an extra £7bn next year as part of his attempts to keep the economy inflated and stop pushing Britain into recession with higher taxes.

The Budget 'buzz' word - if it can be called that - was 'stability'. By the Mole's count, Darling mentioned 'stability' at least 22 times, 'resilience' four times, 'opportunity' five times, and 'fairness' five times.

The Treasury flagged up his decision to bring forward a rise in child benefit to £20 a week from 2009, a year earlier than planned. At one time, Gordon Brown looked at taxing child benefit because it is universal and goes to the rich as well as the poor. But Brown has been stung by criticism that he will miss his target for halving child poverty by 2010 and is throwing £1bn at the problem.

Drinkers are going to pay for the drive against child poverty, with tax on spirits increased by 55p a bottle for the first time since Labour came to power, plus 4p on a pint of beer and 14p on a bottle of wine. But Darling never mentioned the words 'binge drinking'; his officials said he had not made the connection between binge drinking and the overall price of booze.

The Chancellor's decision to break from tradition by raising the alcohol duty at the weekend rather than midnight tonight will give drinkers the chance to go out on Friday night and binge at the pre-Budget price. But there is no froth left in Labour's beer. It has all gone horribly flat.

THE MOLE: THE BUDGET

LAST UPDATED 2:41 PM, MARCH 12, 2008