George's awesome gamble: In a great Budget for Middle England, Osborne slashes business rates, helps savers and takes 600,000 out of 40p tax. But even with new sugar tax, his sums look VERY optimistic

George's awesome gamble: In a great Budget for Middle England, Osborne slashes business rates, helps savers and takes 600,000 out of 40p tax. But even with new sugar tax, his sums look VERY optimistic

George Osborne wooed Middle Britain with tax cuts and a big boost for savers in his Budget announcement yesterday but admitted the UK's finances had plunged deeper into the red. In a high-stakes Budget, he also slapped a surprise sugar tax of 8p on a can of fizzy drink and made incendiary remarks on the perils of Britain leaving the EU. The Chancellor was forced to concede that previously rosy forecasts on growth, productivity, taxes and debt had all been blown dramatically off course - leaving the nation £55billion worse off. But he is gambling that - with a £9billion tax raid on big business - he can balance the books and even fund an £850million-a-year savings account for the under-40s.