Alistair Darling delivered his first pre-Budget report with both hands tied behind his back.

The chancellor’s spending plans were cramped by the limited room for manoeuvre left to him by Gordon Brown as his predecessor at the Treasury. His tax plans were bound by the need to respond to well-received Tory proposals for cuts to inheritance tax and stamp duty, paid for by a levy on UK residents who are domiciled abroad. Labour’s need to regain political momentum after the self-inflicted damage of the prime minister’s election climbdown reduced his freedom of movement even further.