Hold your nose: a £1.25bn subsidy for rich Rolls-Royce’s new engine had to happen

The chancellor’s budget giveaway is, unfortunately, a reflection of how life works in the global aerospace business

It wasn’t a “nothing” budget for engine-maker Rolls-Royce. The company was handed £1.25bn from public coffers to part-fund the development of a next-generation engine for single-aisle commercial planes.

The chancellor buried this giveaway in two short sentences in the stodgy middle of his speech, presumably because it would look too much like a case of corporate welfare just after he had grumbled about the £14bn extra we’ll be paying in debt interest this year.

And it’s not as if Rolls is on its uppers. The pride of Derby is the UK’s most radically improved major company of the past few years.