Technically no. When Philip Hammond announced in 2016 the demise of the Spring Budget in favour of a cut down Spring Statement he left an escape clause in case of ‘unexpected changes in the economy’ a characterisation that many would agree applied to todays’ environment. Despite resisting this temptation to use that ‘get out’ and speaking for less than 30 minutes at the despatch box the chancellor did present a set of policies that although small in number would be comparable to pre-covid Budgets and at least seem to merit the mantle...
