With a second credit rating agency, Fitch, threatening to strip Britain of its prized triple-A rating, George Osborne needs to show real progress in his Budget next week towards the goal of putting the public finances back on a sustainable basis. On this front at least, the Chancellor has so far shown himself to be reasonably sure-footed. As promised, the Government is on track to eliminate the structural deficit in five years.
Yet dealing with Gordon Brown’s disastrous legacy of unfunded spending is unfortunately only one part of the public finance challenge. Fast approaching is the much bigger problem of how to address the burgeoning costs of an ageing population.
