Viewpoint: The tonic the economy needed

On 22 June, Chancellor George Osborne delivered his Emergency Budget. It set out a faster reduction of the deficit than was envisaged by the previous government and, crucially, defined how the bulk of the adjustment would be achieved through lower spending rather than higher taxes.

The UK needed a faster and deeper deficit reduction package than was set out in the previous government's Budget in March; equally important to the scale of deficit reduction is the way it is done. Here again, the Chancellor chose the right route by concentrating overwhelmingly on closing the fiscal gap by lower spending instead of through higher taxation.

The Budget will not threaten economic recovery. On the contrary, it is likely to improve the economic outlook by showing that public finances