I LISTENED to the Chancellor’s hour long budget speech and still haven’t unravelled the whole story.

If the subject matter was not serious I would have enjoyed it as I do when I watch the performance of a music hall magician.

Car drivers will no doubt be pleased the fuel duty in September will not increase but the fuel duty itself is not removed because to do so would reduce the income from taxation.

Mr Osborne blames the Labour Party for it but its original purpose, agreed at the time by both parties, was to contribute to the international treaties on reducing global warming.

The duty was to increase the use of public transport but if we want buses to be used more we require cheaper fares and convenient timetables to all parts which private operators have not delivered.

Cuts in local services, which always affect the poorest people, will continue well into a Tory second term, and the main beneficiaries of tax breaks will be the better off.

What else can be expected?

That crew will never change and only the unwary will vote for them.

G Bulmer, Billingham.