The Pounds 39bn Black Hole in the Chancellor's Budget

Beginning of article

Institute for Fiscal Studies report reveals scale of the crisis in the public finances Little room to provide much-needed boost to economy, analysis concludes

The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, will be unable to deliver any meaningful boost to the economy in his Budget in a fortnight's time, and an almost unprecedented squeeze on public spending will be required over the next few years - whichever party wins the next general election - according to a pre-Budget analysis by the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

An annual "black hole" approaching 39bn will need to be plugged if the nation's finances are to be brought back into balance as the Government …