Can curry nights and canny advisers help Healey deliver a budget for everyday people?

The chancellor has promised ‘breathing space’ for households and small businesses but global events cannot be ignored

• You be the chancellor: play our budget game to see if you can balance the books

Every Sunday night, the chancellor, John Healey, slips next door to Andy Burnham’s Downing Street flat where they order a curry and chew over politics on the prime minister’s sofa.

An Indian takeaway is one of the totemic issues in British politics, a “treat” fewer people can afford, like a pint at the football or soft play for the kids.

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