At last, some good news about fiscal policy.

At last, we have some good fiscal news.

In January the government actually collected more tax than it spent. Tax receipts came in at £58 billion, some £6.4 billion higher than January last year. At the same time, government expenditures were £50.5 billion, just over £2 billion higher than last January. Collections on wealth and income related taxes were particularly strong.

Of course, January is always a good month for tax collections, and a single month doesn't make a trend. Let's keep the pessimism under control. The numbers were better than expected, and we should be thankful for that.

Finally, we can dare to hope that the public sector accounts might begin the long road to recovery.