Exit polls confirm the polls prior to the Hesse state elections. This is another serious drop in support for the two main parties in Germany’s grand coalition government. Once again the parties becoming much more popular are the Greens and the AFD, parties attacking the EU establishment view.

Alice Weidel, the leader of the AFD in the German Parliament and effectively the Leader of the Opposition, recently made a speech supporting the right of every EU member state to decide to leave the EU if they wished. She was highly critical of Mrs Merkel’s model of the EU, attacking the idea of further integration, disagreeing with common budgets and freedom of movement, and worrying whether Germany was being led into providing too much financial support for the rest of the EU. She wishes to see the Commission’s right to propose new laws removed. She recommended that the EU treat the UK better, respecting the democratic judgement of UK voters.

The forces ranged against the increasing power of the EU federal state are growing. The next question is will the SPD, reluctant members of Mrs Merkel’s coalition government, carry on given the big damage it is doing to their voter base.

Mr Hammond says he will need a second budget if we leave the EU on 29 March. That much I agree. But far from needing a version of Mr Osborne’s ridiculous Punishment budget we could afford a budget for higher growth and higher net incomes.

Freed of the need to pay £ 39 bn for no good reason to the EU we could have a great budget for prosperity. Lets do just that. No deal is a lot better than Mr Hammond’s idea of a deal. He wants to delay our exit and sandbag us with a huge EU bill.

This will be the last budget before the UK is an independent country again, if we end up with no deal. It is the time to set a new course. We need to be optimistic. We need to promote more growth and more enterprise. We need to grasp the ability of lower taxes to power prosperity. This should be the budget for prosperity, not austerity.

We need to cut Stamp duties, Capital Gains Tax, and Vehicle Excise duties as described before. Current rates reduce the tax take by deterring transactions.

We need to cut the rates of Income Tax from 20% to 18 % and from 45% to 40%.

We need to abolish VAT on Feminine hygiene products, green products and domestic fuel.

We need to boost spending on schools 10 % or more below the current national average per pupil amount.

We need to spend more on improving the road network.

We need to meet the costs of the planned increase in NHS spending, only releasing the money if there are good plans to spend it to raise the quality and quantity of care. We should remove car parking charges at hospitals from patients and visitors.
I read the Chancellor is going to cut business rates for smaller shops in High Streets, which is helpful.

All this can come from the £ 39 bn over the next three years we will save by not signing the penal Withdrawal Agreement.

There is £39 bn to spend over the next three years if we decline to sign the one sided Withdrawal Agreement. Thats a 2% boost to national income.

I had a talk with the Secretary of State for Transport last week to remind him of the issues about concentrated overflying and the noise it generates for some constituents with easterly winds. There are various ways of improving the situation which I have presented to his department and others which I rehearsed again.

There is some nonsense about the WTO going around. Its a rehashed Project Fear story which makes no sense.The UK is a member of the WTO and will be a full member trading under the WTO rules when we leave the EU.