The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority.

Subscribe today for just 12 pounds and receive a 12 week subscription in print and online, plus a 20 pound Amazon gift voucher,

absolutely free. Go to Spectator.co.uk.

forward slash voucher. Vulture. Hello and

welcome to Coffey House Shops, the Spectators Daily Politics Podcast. I'm Isabel Hardman and this is

the Sunday roundup. Ahead of Wednesday's budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt gave an

interview on Sunday with Laura

Coonsburg in which he tried to manage expectations regarding potential tax cuts

while hinting there might be some form of cut.

But I'm asking about the specific message that you've been sending a message over the last few months

that you were really eager to do tax cuts and now actually you've got less money to spend than you hoped.

Was it a mistake to raise people's expectations?

No, because what we have been saying very clearly is that when we look around the world world the economies that are growing fastest

whether it's North America or Asia tend to be the ones with lower taxes and we

want that to be the case for the UK as well but we've always said

and we've been very consistent that we would only cut taxes in a way that was

responsible and prudent and if I may say I think the most un-conservative thing I could do would be to cut taxes by increasing

borrowing because that's just cutting taxes and saying that future generations have to pick up

the tax. I won't do that, but I do want where

it's possible to do so responsibly to move towards a lower tax economy and I hope to show a path in that direction

but this will be a prudent and responsible budget for long-term growth

tackling inflation more more investment, more jobs and that path to lower taxation as and when we can afford it.

...