As he prepares for Wednesday’s Budget, Philip Hammond is looking to avoid a major misstep. Many recent Budgets have proved unexpectedly unpopular or had unintended consequences. Multiple measures in George Osborne’s “omnishambles” Budget in 2012 were later reversed, while Mr Hammond’s own planned increase in National Insurance contributions for the self-employed was quickly scrapped earlier this year. Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at QMUL, argues that Gordon Brown’s Budget in 2001 “proved to be incredibly popular, at least in the short term.”More »