Don’t fall for Philip Hammond’s budget trickery. There is an alternative | Polly Toynbee

As the chancellor prepares to slash the state he claims there's no cash. Yet he's preparing to give billions away to the rich

How perfectly their faces fit the parts they play, this pair of graveyard undertakers to public services. Chancellor and prime minister use their grim solemnity to persuade the nation that there is no alternative. It's all a charade - and they are, of course, play-acting - but they do it alarmingly well. Polls show they still convince voters that this extreme punishment is a doleful necessary.

Related: Chancellor's budget to build up Brexit reserves, not tackle NHS crisis

Another 12bn axe will fall in April on 'hardworking' low-paid families, plus 3.7bn taken from disability pay