Good old Darling

Well, he has done it. Alistair Darling is going to cut the VAT rate from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent (for a year). Apparently it is the first cut in VAT since 1974.

However I'm not sure how this is going to benefit the economy in the long run and it is just a government that has got us into unbelievable debt stalling for time.

Many retailers have already dropped prices as they look to encourage spending once more, so that change will probably have been absorbed already and I'm not sure how much the average shopper will notice the difference. Hopefully it will be passed on in household bills, but thanks to a massive price increase, it is not going to have that much of an impact on many homeowners.

What worries me is how we are going to see that increase in years to come and soon, 17.5 per cent will be a distant, but longed for memory.

He has also announced that the income tax rate for those earning £150,000 and above will be 45 per cent. Luckily for me I don't earn anywhere near that amount, but it puts an end to Labour's mantra about not penalising high-earners any more. However these high earners have until 2011 to move country before the tax starts!

The real question for me - as a commuter being constantly squeezed by eye-watering rises on the transport system, I would like to know when the government is going to stop allowing rail companies to just charge what they like, before everyone is priced off the railways once and for all.