Budgets are often big theatrical occasions in parliament, but not this year. Alastair Darling delivered his 2008 budget speech in an almost dead pan way.

Perhaps it wasn’t surprising, with most of the world’s economy slowing down and a global credit crunch that started in the United States affecting everyone, he did not have a lot of room for maneuver. The fact that despite this he was able to deliver a package that included continued investment in public services and put money into the pockets of people who need it most was a testament to the solid way the economy has been managed since 1997.

We alone among the developed nations have avoided the world recessions of the last ten years and the fact that our economy will continue to expand for at least the next two years – by which time we will have had over 12 years of continuous growth – is a huge achievement.

A growing economy means more jobs and better services. And a growing economy means we can give our children more opportunities and start to make big inroads into the two key challenges of our generation, the fight against poverty and the fight against climate change.

Of course, there were some headline announcements too. Households with a person over 60 will get an extra £50 on the winter fuel allowance and households with a person over 80 will get an extra £100. Child benefit for the first child will increase to £20. I work out that these two measures alone could help as many as 30,000 households in my South Thanet constituency. No wonder, that the Citizens Advice Bureau welcomed the budget and said it will put money into the pockets of people who live on low incomes.

In the long term, and given our reliance on high tech jobs like those at Pfizer, the announcement of another £10m to improve science teaching could also have a big impact on our community. The decision to improve shared equity house purchase arrangements for key workers like teachers and nurses and to make £8bn available for social housing will also be important to a lot of people from Thanet who want a home of their own.

All in all, it may have been a low key budget but perhaps that was no bad thing? It will certainly make a difference for the better here in Thanet.