The "pre-election" budget presented by Sunak's Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, was the Tories' opening gambit in their election campaign.

    Hunt was determined to be seen as a "good" traditional Tory who cut taxes. But given the bad state of the economy (no, the recession isn't over!) the best he could do was cut 2p off workers' National Insurance contributions - for the second time. And Labour smilingly approved. Hunt also decided that "non-doms" should begin to pay taxes on their overseas earnings from 2025 (if they can be traced...) - thereby "nicking" one of Labour's flagship proposals...

    So even though this budget was merely pre-election politicking and the Tories will soon be voted into the wilderness for the next five years, most of their policies will remain virtually unchanged in Labour's "Red Box".

    There's an unpleasant irony in this NIC cutting spree, because NICs were originally introduced to help fund the welfare state and NHS. You paid now to insure yourself against illness and unemployment later. And then the government topped-up the amount from the Treasury.

    But no more. It's precisely the starving of the NHS and social welfare of funds which has led to Britain having the lowest life expectancy, highest extreme poverty and worst cancer survival rates in the G7.

    The degeneration of such a "public-minded" (perish the thought!) concept, has got to the point where Hunt even suggested that NI should be abolished altogether. And Labour's Reeves didn't disagree. "Put the money in workers' pockets" they say (as if!), and forget "society" - echoing Margaret Thatcher. But despite the media's nonsense, the fact is that even this Tory heroine taxed the rich at a higher rate in the 1980s than Hunt is doing today.

    As for the talk about the "historically high tax burden", this doesn't mean what reporters repeat, over and again: that taxes themselves are historically high! Nope. "Tax burden" is the total tax intake expressed as a percentage of GDP (the size of the economy). So if GDP has fallen (as it has) the "tax burden" is greater and if it rises it is smaller... In fact Britain's "tax burden" is lower by 2.2% than all other advanced economies and 6.4% lower than the EU14! A shameful fact in today's context of starved public services!

    In the meantime, after Lee Anderson's defection, Sunak and Gove are desperately trying to prevent Farage's Reform Party from swallowing more of the party's MPs/votes, by moving the Tories ever-further rightward. Hence Sunak's latest rhetoric against "extremists" and the refusal by extreme Tory ministers to condemn outright the violent race-hatred and misogyny directed at the veteran "Labour" MP, Diane Abbott.

    Having already curtailed the right to strike, Sunak & Co are now threatening the right to political free speech and threatening to proscribe those who oppose their gruesome fuelling of the Ukraine war and Netanyahu's bloodbath in Gaza. Given that our best defence is to go on the offensive,we need to stop them, before they stop us.