struggled to get by madam deputy speaker, at least the bankers sipping champagne will be chairing this budget today. let s go back to our main story today, and the chancellor has delivered what he s called a post covid era budget, with a focus on higher skills and higher wages. rishi sunak said there would be a real terms rise in overall spending for every single government department. let s get more analysis on what has been announed today. i m joined by miatta fahnbulleh who s chief executive at the new economics foundation. and alsojoining me is anne mcelvoy who s senior editor at the economist. hello to you both. thank you for joining us. if i can start with you, how would you characterize this budget? spend, spend, spend wasn t