The budget statement used to be a government’s big opportunity to unveil its political programme and allot society’s resources accordingly. It was an annual moment of huge political significance. Yet, from the late 1980s onwards, it has become an increasingly managerial exercise, drained of any broader political vision. Today’s budgets represent a triumph of technocracy over democratic politics. In the run-up to this spring’s budget on 6 March both Jeremy Hunt and Rachel Reeves are continuing this practice of wanting to insulate economic policy from democracy. Surely we could re-politicise and re-democratise the pre-budget discussion.

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