Budget 2010: VAT to rise to 20% as Osborne seeks to balance books by 2015.

I'm sure he wasn't trying to be funny, but it did make me laugh out loud.

George Osborne said that he was introducing a "progressive" budget from a "progressive" alliance. And he said this whilst increasing Vat - which disproportionately affects the poorest in society - from 17.5% to 20%.

He, of course, referred to it as the "unavoidable budget" in a lame attempt to lay the blame for it at the door of the previous Labour administration, a point he hammered home not too subtly.

"This emergency budget deals decisively with our country's record debt," Osborne said as he revealed plans to raise an additional £32bn from spending cuts – including an £11bn trimming of the welfare bill – and £8bn in tax increases.

"It pays for the past. And it plans for the future. It supports a strong, enterprise-led recovery. It rewards work. And it protects the vulnerable in our society. Yes it is tough – but it is also fair."

There will also be a two-year freeze on public sector pay, a three-year freeze on child benefit, and cuts of more than 25% in spending by some Whitehall departments.

The chancellor admitted that the impact of the budget squeeze would lead to lower growth and higher unemployment in the short term but said the need to avoid a Greek-style sovereign debt crisis left him with no alternative.

The notion that we are on the brink of a Greek style collapse is simply laughable, but that it the reason Osborne is giving for doing what he always wanted to do anyway.

A Conservative government is introducing policies which will increase unemployment; who could have seen that coming?

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Tags: Osborne, budget, UK politics, Cameron, Clegg