I startled the cat on Wednesday night when shouting in frustration at a Labour shadow minister saying nothing useful on television about the Budget, writes John Hipwood.

In my own defence, this is not a regular occurence. Outbursts generally only occur when a man being paid upwards of £100,000-a-week fails to pass a football 20 yards to another man in a similar coloured shirt.

It was bad enough watching Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, defending George Osborne’s second Budget, but when it came to his Labour shadow, Angela Eagle, exasperation levels rose.

Miss Eagle was competent enough at picking holes in Mr Osborne’s proposals, but each time Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight asked what Labour would do, she ignored the question and continued the anti-Government whinge. This, it seems, is what Opposition is all about under Ed Miliband. Slag off everything the Government does to try to save money to reduce the national debt, but come up with nothing constructive of your own.

Politically, it might be a workable strategy in the short term because it will buy votes in the local, Scottish and Welsh elections in May. But Labour has to do better in the medium term to create a credible plan which goes beyond criticising for cutting too far and too fast.It’s so easy for Labour to forget that, as the outgoing Chief Secretary, Liam Byrne, put it so bluntly on leaving office: “I’m afraid to tell you, there’s no money left.”

It was no surprise that Mr Byrne, now shadow work and pensions secretary, found his way into one of the upper Commons galleries for the Budget statement, rather than leave himself open to fire in the chamber.

Not only was there no money left, but the national deficit was so enormous that this week the Office of Budget Responsibility forecast that the interest we are paying on the national debt will be £48.6 billion in 2011-12. That’s £4 billion a month just in interest payments. Before the summer solstace we will have paid out more than Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s total wealth.

Mr Osborne’s medium-term goal is to stop making such ludicrous interest payments by wiping out the deficit, but he also says he recognises the hurt that is being caused to both the public and businesses by external factors like the price of oil and the knock-on effect on the cost of petrol and diesel.

He said yesterday that the going would be tough, but the course he had set was the right one for the country.

“It’s a hard road, but it leads to a better future for the country,” said the Chancellor. Angela Eagle pointed out that the January increase in VAT from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent had added 3p to a litre of fuel, carefully forgetting that Labour’s duty escalator  scrapped by Mr Osborne would have added 5p a litre to petrol.

Despite the move to reduce fuel bills, the Budget proposals announced yesterday, and more importantly last year in the Emergency Budget and Comprehensive Review, will reduce the income of the average family by £750, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies.

The average family is, of course, very hard to find, and there will be many whose standard of living will be hit to a much greater extent, especially if mum, dad, son, or daughter lose their jobs. In London tomorrow a good indication of people’s fears about their jobs, about cuts like those in the Education Maintenance Allowance and benefits to people in care homes, will be seen in the “March for the Alternative” demonstration. Judging by the number of coaches leaving for the Capital from the West Midlands, the demonstration will be huge.

Eventually Ed Miliband, Ed Balls, Angela Eagle et al will have to tell us precisely what they would be doing to generate economic growth and at the same time cut those crazy debt interest payments.

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Transport Secretary Philip Hammond’s decison this week not to lower the drink-drive limit met with initially unlikely support from former transport minister and Labour shadow minister John Spellar.

But anyone who knows Mr Spellar’s record will not have been surpised.

As a minister, shadow minister and backbencher, the Warley MP has been opposed to lowering the limit because of its impact on pubs and clubs, particularly those in the country which rely on motorists for their custom.

Mr Spellar believes the residual problem with drink-driving lies with serial offenders, who ignore the current limit, which is equivalent to 1.5 to two pints of ordinary beer.

“This is a common sense response from Philip Hammond who has followed the lead given by successive Labour ministers. It was the right thing to do, and I welcome it,” he said.