We summarise the likely effect of the many different moving parts in yesterday’s Budget. Beneficiaries are lower income households, especially younger consumers, as well as certain muti-site operators via business rate savings. Putting the Budget in the rear-view mirror removes a major uncertainty, which has constrained spending across most demographics at the start of the key Golden Quarter and already led some companies to downgrade. But there was no incentive to stimulate spending or growth and, although there is no immediate hit to tax-payers’ pockets, the tax burden stealthily increases over time and up the income curve. This could potentially lead to continued ‘trading down’, as witnessed in the cost-of-living crisis.