Alistair Darling receives borrowing boost  Of course, the figures are still shocking, with Britain heading for a record deficit and with borrowing hitting a new high for February.  The question is, has the Chancellor won his battle with Number 10 over the tone of next Wednesday's Budget (or, as some would have it, non-event)? The Treasury want it to be a sober affair for these austere times whereas Gordon Brown would like to have a few public spending rabbits to pull out of the hat. Anything to help the election campaign, of course.  Let us hope and pray that Mr Darling doesn't ape last autumn's pre-Budget report where announcements on "increases" in child benefit for example still conveyed the - wholly wrong - impression that the Government has a big pot of money to dip into.  The analysts are already predicting that Number 10 might have the final say. This from Capital Economics' Jonathan Loynes: "February's public finances have provided Alistair Darling with a very timely boost ahead of next Wednesday's budget. He now looks likely to have a little wriggle room in the budget to either cut borrowing or fund a few pre-election sweeteners.  "We suspect that he will choose the latter. Make no mistake, though, a prolonged and painful fiscal squeeze still lies ahead."  Amen to that. With less than a week to go before the last budget of this Government, what should be at the core of Mr Darling's message? What is the one policy change, tax change or regulation change that will have the most positive impact for the UK economy and for British business? If you were the Chancellor, what would this Budget be remembered for?  I look forward to your comments.
The news that the public finance figures for the UK are slightly better (that    is, slightly less awful) than forecast will give something of a fillip to    Alastair Darling as he puts the finishing touches to his Budget this weekend.