A dramatic U-turn from Labour has stopped them from breaking their manifesto, but it has also left the Budget looking messy and wide open to risk. The expected income tax rise has been shelved in favour of what some insiders call a “smorgasbord” of smaller taxes. In this episode of Political Currency, Ed Balls and George Osborne dig into whether this was a rushed scramble or a smart political play. - and the extent to which it has knocked Rachel Reeves off the story she had been shaping in the run up to Budget week.
Away from the Budget noise, all eyes turned to Shabana Mahmood and her sweeping overhaul of the asylum and refugee system. The announcement has split Labour supporters. Is this the arrival of what some are already calling "Mahmoodism"? And will these measures work in practice, or just push parts of the left toward the Greens or the Lib Dems?
Finally, George and Ed look from Tehran to California, where George’s former colleague Steve Hilton is suddenly leading the race for governor. Can his Trump style rhetoric, polished social media - and even the promise to control the weather - deliver an upset in a solidly Democrat state?
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