How are the nation's political commentators taking the budget, at this very early stage?

The Daily Telegraph's Janet Daley says there was one clear message in the budget from the Chancellor "I am the man to lead the country to a successful future by keeping us within the European Union and maintaining the Union with Scotland." But she doubts that "it will do much" for the Chancellor's leadership ambitions, or the case to stay in the EU.

In The Guardian,Gaby Hinsliff asks readers to forget the announcements on sugary drinks, or small business, and says the bit of the budget that mattered most was "the doom-laden stuff at the beginning about how the world economy may be about to go horribly wrong". She says the Chancellor is "unlikely to survive" a second recession in his job and he "sounded like a man outlining his legacy".

The Spectator's Isabel Hardman calls the budget "strikingly cautious" , aside from the announcement of a levy on soft drinks manufacturers. George Osborne is "clearly not keen for any sort of fight with his backbenchers at all", she says.

And in The Mirror columnist Ros Wynne-Jones says that the Chancellor is forcing the disabled and the poor to pay for a "largesse" of tax cuts for the rich. She says they are "the people who always pay for Tory budgets".