THE Red Book is the central document in the Budget presented to Parliament last week by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

This year it totals 148 pages of commentary, figures, tables and graphs which set out in black and white the totality of the Government’s tax and spending plans for the next year.

It does this in great detail, page by page, table by table, line by line.

It contains calculations relating to every part of our society and economy, from specific details on the repeal of the Renewals Allowance, alterations to tax relief for museums and galleries to reforming the tax rules for testimonial matches for footballers.

Every penny is accounted for. Every figure has been scrutinised, checked and agreed by teams of civil servants, special advisors and minsters within the Treasury, across Whitehall and, finally, around the Cabinet table.

Or so we thought.

After attempting to blindside the House of Commons and the country at large with side issues like the imposition of a sugar tax, this year’s Budget began to unravel within 24 hours of the Chancellor making his statement.

As I travelled to Chelmsford in Essex for the filming of Question Time on Thursday evening, I watched Twitter in amazement as the pressure mounted on the Government’s proposals to cut Personal Independence Payments, not only from the SNP and other opposition parties, but from within the Conservative Party itself.

By the time I disembarked from the train it seemed like the only Conservatives fully in support of George Osborne’s Budget were his own Treasury team and Ruth Davidson.

The recording soon started, and so when Nicky Morgan, the Tory Education Secretary, stated to the studio audience before us that the devastating cuts to PIP were now no more than a “suggestion” it was clear that the game was up for the Government.

Their Budget had been reduced to a shambles in less than 36 hours. The minister was the first of the panelists to leave when the recording was over.

Personal Independence Payments are there to ensure that disabled people have access to appropriate transport, heating, and special aids or equipment which would allow them to enjoy a similar standard of living to those without a disability.

Cutting over £4 billion from this social security safety net, about £100 a week for those affected, is absolutely unjustifiable and fundamentally wrong.

How could this Government have got it so wrong?

This debacle clearly demonstrates the fact that this Westminster Government, ideologically wedded to the politics of austerity, knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing.

I absolutely believe that George Osborne and David Cameron are so far removed from the challenges of day-to-day life, that they simply can’t, or won’t, comprehend the devastating human impact that can be caused by their ideologically driven plans for austerity.

Even in the subsequent briefing and counter-briefing by Tories against each other throughout last weekend, this terrible decision, and the subsequent fall-out and resignation of Iain Duncan Smith was almost entirely framed in terms of either the forthcoming EU referendum or a future Tory leadership election.

What it should have been about was the distressing position faced by 40,000 Scots who didn’t know how they were going to be able to pay their bills over the coming weeks and months. In the post-Budget politicking, the victims of this tragedy seem to have been entirely ignored.

Although the final decision to reverse these cuts is right and proper, it was a side event in the circus that is the escalating Tory leadership crisis.

That’s why, in among the political sniping and backbiting on show in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon, I asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to properly apologise on behalf of the Government for the days of turmoil faced by disabled people and their families following this the original announcement.

It seems to me that this should be the very least that this Government should do for those affected.

But no apology was given. Shame on them.

This Government has published some of the most complex and technical budgets this country has ever seen.

A recent calculation showed that our current tax legislation stretches to more than 17,000 pages, compared to only 759 fifty years ago in 1966.

But despite this immense level of detail, the current Chancellor has still managed to produce a Budget which means he’s broken two of the three fiscal rules he’s set for himself.

The total cost of this policy was £4 billion. It’s a huge figure, but makes up only a small proportion of Government spending overall. But it could mean £5,000 a year to each disabled person who receives it. It’s a vital lifeline.

It’s a mark of this Chancellor’s skewed priorities that he’s solely focused on his spreadsheets and calculations, without any real regard to how these changes relate to those in our society who need and deserve our help the most.

I’ll continue to do all I can to give our disabled people a voice.