Chris Mason: Budget needs to go some way towards delivering PM's promises

The UK government wants to pursue ambitious political change while facing very high public debt, a tax burden at a generational peak, rising energy bills and higher-than-expected inflation. Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, says the government faces numerous constraints, worsened in part by the war in the Middle East. Ministers are expected to target cost-of-living and energy-bill support at the most vulnerable, potentially funded by a levy or surcharge on banks. The Budget is also expected to announce more defence spending, but has yet to explain how the government will fund its goal of spending 3% of national income on security.