How much was that budget in the window?

Always remember to say "thank you, Darling"...

Sterling has sunk under the burden of the budget, the pound now worth $1.4440 or €1.1127.

Chocolate coins are a safer bet than sterling:

A company that peddles chocolate coins, in other words, is currently deemed a better credit bet than the British Treasury itself.

Although Darling predicts economic shrinkage in the order of 3.5% this year, the IMF said today that it will be 4.1%:

From the BBC (yes, I've selected the bits I want to highlight):

RUSSELL HILLS - HEAD OF TAX at KPMG IN SCOTLAND

The Budget projections look like a triumph of hope over experience. Despite having to drastically downgrade his forecast for growth this year, the Chancellor still expects the economy to rebound over the next two years.

GRAHAME SMITH - SCOTTISH TRADES UNION CONGRESS

the STUC believes a golden opportunity has been missed to introduce a timely and targeted fiscal stimulus to save current jobs and create new ones.

JACQUI WATT - SCOTTISH FEDERATION OF HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS

These measures are not nearly enough to tackle the desperate crisis in housing which sees nearly half a million Scots on housing waiting lists, and a stalled construction industry. It is doubly disappointing after the Scottish Government had committed to putting any extra funds it received from the budget towards new build affordable housing.

ANDY WILLOX - FEDERATION OF SMALL BUSINESSES IN SCOTLAND

the fuel duty rise will make it particularly hard for rural and other essential business road users to keep moving during the downturn.

IAIN MCMILLAN - CBI SCOTLAND

we are deeply disturbed by the further rises in duty on alcohol and on fuel duty. The additional taxation on spirits and alcohol will make it harder to argue for fairer taxation on Scottish exports in overseas markets.

DOUGLAS HAMILTON - SAVE THE CHILDREN IN SCOTLAND

Today was their last chance to keep their promises that they made a decade ago and they have failed to do that

GAVIN HEWITT - SCOTCH WHISKY ASSOCIATION

A duty increase during a recession is a real blow and follows last year's duty rises on Scotch, the largest since the 1970s.

And what about Labour's First Minister in Wales?

First Minister Rhodri Morgan has told BBC Wales that he cannot guarantee that there will not be cuts to services and job losses in the public sector as a result of the announcement.

We're heading for a £1.4 trillion public debt

The unprecedented borrowing programme sparked warnings that a generation of British workers face higher taxes to pay off the debt, and raised doubts about international investors' willingness to go on lending to the UK.
The final figures could be even higher, since Mr Darling based his borrowing plans on an assumption that the UK economy will start to grow again later this year and rebound sharply by 2011.

79% of GDP as debt - mummy, daddy!

Martin Wolf didn't miss and hit the wall:

Only Alistair Darling, most emollient of politicians, could manage to make this
Budget boring. He is telling his country that its prosperity was as fraudulent as a collateralised debt obligation, that Gordon Brown’s boasts of “no more Tory boom and bust” are a joke, that the forecasts he gave only last November were nonsense, that the public finances are deteriorating at a rate never seen in peacetime and that, to cover these failures, he is indulging in populist attacks on the highly paid. To make this feel boring is an achievement.

Another fine mess they've got us into, but are they ready to say sorry'?