In a typical post-election period, two things happen in the fiscal world. First, the Budget puts up taxes and pushes some harsh spending decisions. Get the bad stuff out now and relax the grip later on in a pre-election attempt to get a feel-good factor going.

Second, there is a Spending Review to give some certainty for the future path of expenditure over the Parliament to give civil servants, council chief executives, hospital bosses and prison governors something to plan around.