Gordon Brown again changed the way he presents his margin for error for meeting his "golden rule", adding a £3bn cushion to appear further from breaching his self-imposed limit.
The chancellor insisted he would meet the rule - borrowing only for investment over the economic cycle - but by his own calculations his room to manoeuvre has deteriorated from £14bn in December to £11bn yesterday. The figure would be £8bn if not for the "cushion" included yesterday.
