It was, in the end, a better first Budget than many had expected, given Chancellor John Healey’s very limited room for manoeuvre.
There were no shocks and so far we've not found any nasties hidden in the paperwork.
Mr Healey seemed a little nervous in his delivery, stumbling over a few words here and there but he did at least throw in a few gags and delivered his speech in an even and admirably clear way.
The winding back of Cash ISA changes, announced by predecessor Rachel Reeves only a year ago, suggests he will provide a more practical, common sense approach to retail finance services than his predecessor.
Dropping her Cash ISA plans just a year after she announced them took guts but deserved some praise. He also praised his predecessor too in a reminder that he is indeed a politician and you can't afford too many enemies.
Perhaps Mr Healey will be kinder to savers too. He announced plans to introduce a First Time Buyer ISA to replace the much maligned Lisa and (admittedly fairly vague) plans to introduce a new ISA for first time investors. Steps in the right direction.
Certainly the door is open to doing more to encourage saving and investing.
He didn't dwell on the fact that for many taxes will simply carry on rising as the impact of frozen income tax thresholds drag more people into the higher income tax brackets.
At the end of the day Mr Healey is in a tight spot and it was a reminder that he needs to protect Treasury revenue if he is to deliver his fiscal targets. He’s provided one or two giveaways on energy bills but little has been over generous. Even the changes to the State Pension, such as removing the State Pension from the income tax net, are relatively small changes albeit helpful.
If Mr Healey wanted to do more to improve living standards he could cut income taxes for everyone but there is little sign of that.
On the positive side, the economy, much to the expectation of many economists, seems to be growing, albeit slowly, which is welcome although it’s hardly an express train.
Mr Healey could have gone further and ditched the hugely unpopular IHT extension to unused pensions but he refrained from doing so which is a shame. The truth is that with a growing welfare bill to cope with and a growing deficit to tackle he simply hasn’t got the money to spend.
Much of what he did today was to please the markets who will like his steady and cautious approach and reiteration of his fiscal and debt targets. It should calm nerves in the bond markets.
So overall, a better start than many expected but he now needs to go further where he can to ease the tax and red tape burden on business to encourage growth. The welcome Founders' CGT relief plan is a good idea and may well attract some interest from budding entrepreneurs but only a growing economy can provide all the revenue he needs.
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Kevin O’Donnell is editor of Financial Planning Today and a journalist with 40 years of experience in finance, business and daily news. This topical comment appears most weeks, usually on Fridays but occasionally other days. Email: