The Budget: who will come out on top?

The Chancellor is obviously under huge pressure to deliver a package of measures that is seen to be an imaginative and stabilising influence in the current economic crisis and which helps Labour recover the political initiative. It won't be easy and the leaks over the weekend show just how limited his scope is going to be tomorrow.

His Tory counterpart, George Osborne, will be under almost as much pressure to perform and deliver because there is a growing band of Tory MPs who do not think he is the right person for the job. One of his key problems, and one that he will have to deal with again tomorrow, is that he has been eclipsed by the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable at every stage of the unfolding financial and economic crisis. Many Tories were disappointed when Kenneth Clarke wasn't brought back into the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chancellor rather than Shadow Business Secretary at the beginning of the year. With the entry of the UK into the Euro nowhere to be seen on the political horizon at the moment, the one issue that divided Mr Clarke from the majority of Tories has disappeared and he is seen by many as the ideal running mate for David Cameron in an election that will be dominated by economic issues.

Mr Cable, on the other hand, will be under the least pressure tomorrow. Sure, expectations that he will exploit any weaknesses in the Chancellor's proposals will be high but he is not under any threat himself. However, if he does succeed in scoring some serious political points then expect talk of a coalition government with Vince Cable as Chancellor to start up again.