THE man with the red braces was in South Cheshire on Monday giving his forecast on Gordon Brown's Budget out today.

Financial services commentator Justin Urquhart-Stewart visited Cheshire Independent Financial Services in Hospital Street at Nantwich.

He is best known for his appearances, sporting his red braces, on GMTV's Good Morning programme and Working Lunch.

He is also a regular on Radio Four and Five giving his views on post-Budget changes and he writes for national magazines and newspapers.

So what could Chronicle readers expect in Mr Brown's Budget?

Justin says: 'Gordon B will stand up and give us all great assurance that the economy is safe in his hands, as opposed to Tony's.

'He will no doubt point to economic growth ever since 1997, but in fact you can track it back to mid 1992 when sterling was thrown out of the ERM and sanity was restored.'

Here were Justin's Budget fore-casts:

Themes - steady; the economy is safe in our hands and doing better than the rest of the EU.

Entrepreneurs - he will be keen to highlight his credentials for smaller business. Claims to cut through red tape again but we shall see.

Fuel tax - not going up especially after the rise in fuel prices. He would have a riot on his hands if he tried.

Booze - probably up in line with inflation in line, except for Scotch whisky which will be encouraged.

Stamp Duty on houses - watch the Tory clothes be removed from the washing line. Lowest level probably raised to £100,000/£120,000 but could be higher.

Pensioners will have some respite from Council Tax.

Income Tax. All the allowances frozen - this is Income Tax creep and what a creep!

Adds Justin: 'The winner will be a retired couple who drive and drink Scotch and want to buy a small house, then set up an even smaller business. I wonder if they exist.

'The best thing to do is to bet on how long he will speak for - 42 minutes is my bet - and how many times he says 'prudence' - my bet here is five times.'