IFS picks the budget to pieces … again

The economics thinktank has once again identified, then costed, the gap between George Osborne's rhetoric and reality

It all seemed to be going well for George Osborne. A confident display in the Commons. A big increase in the minimum wage. Headlines to die for in the Conservative-supporting papers.

Then the Institute for Fiscal Studies came along. Over the years it has become almost a ritual, whichever party is in power, for the IFS to pick the budget to pieces. This was no exception and Osborne's latest offering got the full treatment.

Related: Budget 2015: tax credit claimants will be up to 1,000 a year worse off, says IFS

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