In Pictures- UK Emergency Budget

via Big Picture

 via The Economist

The first crucial decision he had to make was his goal for the public finances: his “fiscal mandate”. He set an exacting objective of balancing the cyclically adjusted current budget (which excludes net investment) within five years. In his next big decision, he plumped for overachieving: the specific plans he set out over the next four years mean that the goal should be met in 2014-15, a year early.