Express & Star comment: Philip Hammond's budget delivered what we wanted – so what's the catch?

Philip Hammond seems to have delivered all things to all men in yesterday's Budget.

He rarely appears to be a true Tory, but in true Tory fashion he has cut taxes, helped businesses and kept his hands off people's pension funds.

It is fair to say that a lot of the measures announced in his statement will have come as a pleasant surprise to many.

There was a rise in the living wage, and income tax cuts one year earlier than originally promised. The cash pledged for small businesses and help for Britain's ailing high streets will also provide a timely boost.

The growth forecast appears to be good, and the Chancellor was bold enough to say on more than one occasion that austerity – the bane of recent Tory administrations – was coming to an end.

Brexit

However, did he really have much room for manoeuvre given that Brexit is fast approaching?

With Theresa May having so far made a complete mess of the negotiations with the EU, this Budget simply had to offer the British public a positive outlook.

There is undoubtedly a chance that the Tories will have to face the public at the election polls over the next 12 months, particularly if Brexit falls apart.

Doing that on the back of mid-term measures that are traditionally punishing was simply a non-starter.

By holding off on pensions and delivering a Budget that had something in it for everyone, the Chancellor has shown that a strong economy may just be the one legacy that this Government can be proud of once Theresa May departs Number 10 for the last time.

Previously, the Government's main election tactic appears to have been: "It's us or Corbyn."

For Tory voters, at least now the party is showing some signs of life.

Arguably the biggest winner of the Budget is Gavin Williamson.

Criticism

The Defence Secretary and South Staffordshire MP has taken a lot of criticism – much of which has been completely unjustified – over the past 12 months.

But in that time he has managed to secure funding that is absolutely vital to our armed forces, and vital to Britain's position as a world leader in military terms.

He can reflect on a job well done.

The same cannot be said for Labour. The party has plenty of MPs capable of pulling apart aspects of Mr Hammond's Budget, but unfortunately they are all sitting on the back benches.

As it is, it was left to Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott to dissect the potential economic impact of the Chancellor's statement.

Labour is traditionally a party that has been clueless when it comes to the economy, and that picture has certainly not changed since Mr Corbyn took over.

For the Labour leadership, the harsh fact is that the party's economic plans are simply not credible.

And we should not forget that it was largely the vast amounts of public money wasted under the last Labour governments that prompted the need for austerity measures in the first place.

Mr Hammond may well have been forced by circumstances to be more generous than he would have otherwise wanted to be in yesterday's Budget.

But not withstanding any bombshells that may have been buried in the small print, it certainly looks to be a step in the right direction.