Timing is a funny thing. The Chancellor received some good news about the public finances this morning, just when everyone is focused on fairly catastrophic election results for the Tories. A few hours after it was announced that strong Conservative majorities were overturned in the ​​Mid-Bedfordshire and Tamworth by-elections (Katy Balls analyses the results here), we also learned that there may be slightly more scope than previously thought for Jeremy Hunt to come up with some pre-election sweeteners, with the pressure on to cut taxes.