Gordon Brown's fifth and last Budget before the General Election is widely being regarded as a pointer to the next General Election.

With the economy in good shape, the Chancellor could afford to be generous.

The trick was to avoid being over generous. Then he would have been accused of blatant electioneering and preventing interest rates from declining.

Mr Brown has been able to help motorists, the low paid, pensioners and families without overheating the economy.

Whatever he did would not be enough for many interest groups and there are already predictable moans from them. The Tories are also saying with some truth he has taken away through past stealth taxes more than he has ever given in tax handouts.

Mr Brown's Budgets tend to be like Chinese meals - a lot of intricate numbers followed by food that appears palatable at the time but leaves an empty feeling later.

But overall, it is hard to moan too much about a Budget produced by a skilful Chancellor in a position of great strength.

He may have done enough to help Tony Blair back at the election and even more to position himself as the Prime Minister's obvious Labour successor.