New politics

So the big headline from the Tory "emergency budget" is that VAT is to rise, and it's time for the Lib Dems to look very sheepish indeed. They campaigned against a Tory VAT rise, and now they are facilitating it.

As anticipated, it appears savings will be made almost entirely through public spending cuts. This is in spite of Osborne's very rare admission during the budget speech that this crisis was created in the banking sector.

Conservatives don't know any better. But many Lib Dems will be asking how a budget can be called fair when poor people who are dependent on public services appear to be paying for a crisis caused by irresponsibility in the banking sector.

Nick Clegg promised us a new politics. I suspect many of his supporters will now be wishing for a return to the old.