For a chancellor there are few things more comforting than good news on the public finances. And the latest news, released a few days ago, was good. The downward momentum for the budget deficit established by George Osborne from 2010 has been maintained by Philip Hammond.

A budget surplus in July is not unusual but this July’s, of £2bn, was the best for 18 years. Borrowing — the deficit — in 2017-18 was £39.4bn, the lowest for 11 years, since the last pre-crisis year of 2006-7. Borrowing so far this fiscal year is the lowest for 16 years.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the fiscal watchdog, is not given to hyperbole but it noted the “substantial year-on-year improvements in the deficit”. In celebration, the