Philip Hammond faces trickiest budget for a generation | Larry Elliott

These are not normal times: the chancellor is unable to fund giveaways by raising taxes in the hope the public will forget them

In normal times, the first budget after a general election is a predictable affair. The chancellor of the exchequer stands up, conjures up the ghost of Sir Stafford Cripps, administers some pain and quickly moves on.

In Westminster it is known as aligning the economic and political cycles. In plain English, it means getting the bad news out of the way early in order that there will be money to spare just before voters have to go to the polls again. Only rarely do governments deviate from this approach and when they do it rarely ends well.

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