Independent

Osborne doesn’t think much about the have-nots
Andreas Whittam Smith

“To what extent do the Budget measures widen or narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots?

“This test has become more important as income and wealth disparities have grown. Indeed, over the past 30 years, the gap between the highest and lowest paid has expanded more quickly in Britain than almost anywhere in the world.

“The average income of the UK’s top 10% of the working age population is now nearly 12 times that of the bottom 10%.” READ MORE…

Telegraph

A big, dangerous moment on tax – will Osborne live to regret it?
Peter Oborne

“Though by no means the finished article, George Osborne has become a more polished Chancellor than the nervous creature with a high-pitched, staccato delivery who rushed through his emergency Budget statement in the aftermath of the 2010 general election.

“Yesterday, he spoke much more slowly, with more authority and better jokes.” READ MORE…

Guardian

A budget for the rich or the poor? It’s too early to say
Martin Kettle

“Which of the politicians has got it right? Is it George Osborne, who boldly asserted while cutting income taxes on the rich that his budget means the richest will actually pay more? Or Ed Miliband, claiming that the coalition has bottled a fundamental fairness test and proved that Britain is run by the same old Tories?

“Or even the ever optimistic Liberal Democrat cabinet minister who insisted yesterday that, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, this may in fact prove to be a historic budget?” READ MORE…

Times

Not much for workers, not much for business
Bill Emmott

“Chancellors of the Exchequer seem to take an oath when they enter office that they will henceforth ensure that the words “iron” or “reforming” become attached to their title.

“So we had better test George Osborne for those qualities and give him high marks for the first and a more middling score for the second.

“First, though, there are two other oaths that chancellors really ought to take and be tested on – the Hippocratic and the hyperbolic.” READ MORE…(requires subscription)

Daily Mail

Cynical public relations, downright posturing, and a sop to Lib Dem prejudice
Simon Heffer

“Anyone hearing just the last minute or so of George Osborne’s speech yesterday, and especially his Churchillian rhetoric about Britain working its way back to prosperity, might have imagined they had missed a rousing, radical statement of intent about Britain’s economic revival.

“In fact, the finale was as deceptive as the beginning and the middle had been: this was a Budget of cynical public relations and downright posturing.” READ MORE…

Read our at-a-glance review of Budget 2012 HERE.