Tightening the budget!

Being newly married with one child I have been anticipating the emergency budget and its impact on my family.  My first impressions are that Osborne is hitting hard with this one, with VAT at 20% from January 2011 this will hurt.   How can this be fair for the poorest people in society.  I agree the deficit has to come down but does it have to be so harsh and so fast. 

As for freezing child benefit for three years and removing the health in pregnancy grant, it really testifies to the fact that the coalition Government don't know how much a box of baby milk costs.  If the costs of baby goods were not so high maybe people would not have to apply for child benefit and tax credits to top up their income.  The lesson in all this is that we can't depend on welfare, after all this is the Tory ethos so what can we expect. 

There are good things about the budget, e.g. housing benefit reforms, Bank Levy's, state pensions being linked to earnings and child tax credits reduced for families on 40,000+ (only fair).

I have already tightened my budget being on maternity leave, but with this killer VAT rise it might be easier to do this as I am loathe to pay 20% in tax for my goods.