Blog: Ed Balls must have been champing at the bit on Wednesday as he sat and watched his party leader, Ed Miliband, giving an instant response in the Commons to the Budget.

It’s traditional that the Leader of the Opposition responds rather than the shadow chancellor, so Mr Balls was able to give advice to Mr Miliband but doesn’t get the chance to put in one of his pugnacious parliamentary performances.

Last year it was Alistair Darling, now retired to the backbenches, who sat next to acting Labour leader Harriet Harman who responded to George Osborne’s emergency post-election Budget. Despite the importance of the occasion, can anyone remember what she said?

In the meantime, Alan Johnson came and went as shadow chancellor before Mr Balls was appointed to the fourth best job on his wish list (after Prime Minister, Chancellor and Oppositon leader).

For all his frustration, Mr Balls retains his good humour, and was in good form during his visit to Shropshire last weekend.

This was his fourth visit over a relatively brief period, and he confesses to being a big fan of the county, having regularly holidayed in south Shropshire when he was a child.

Mr Balls is also a friend of Telford MP David Wright, with whom he shares interests including football. As well as playing for the parliamentary football team, he is a season ticket holder at Norwich City’s Carrow Road ground.

“I told him he should come to the Bucks Head and watch some real football with AFC Telford,” said Mr Wright.

The shadow chancellor was in Telford to talk to a mixed audience, who asked a series of wide-ranging questions about the economy, cost of living, fuel prices and the proposed changes to the National Health Service.

l One of the big disappointments about Wednesday’s Budget was the shortage of colour in the Commons chamber.

Most eyecatching was Tory MP Eleanor Laing’s midnight blue dress, but the benches were largely filled with male MPs in grey suits.

However, hiding under Lib Dem Bob Russell’s jacket was a splendid gold and black waistcoat, which was worthy of a middle-ranking player in a minor snooker tournament.

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MPs showed us again this week that they can sometimes put aside political differences to campaign for the greater good.

The issue, again, was the thorny one of rail services between Shropshire/North Wales and London following the sad demise of Wrexham & Shropshire Railways.

In attendance at a meeting with railways minister Theresa Villiers were the full set of Shropshire MPs Philip Dunne (Con, Ludlow), Daniel Kawczynski (Con, Shrewsbury & Atcham), Owen Paterson (Con, North Shropshire), Mark Pritchard (Con, The Wrekin) and David Wright (Lab, Telford).

Also there were Labour MPs Ian Lucas (Wrexham) and Susan Jones (Clwyd South), and just to emphasise the ecumenical side to the campaign, it was Mr Wright who organised the meeting.

Each MP had his or her own concerns: Mr Paterson, for instance, pointing out that he wasn’t interested in trains which had Shrewsbury as their final destination. “It takes at least half an hour to drive there and then you have to find somewhere to park,” he said.

But they all agreed that the meeting was constructive, and that the minister had listened carefully to what they had to say.

A follow-up meeting, this one organised by Mr Pritchard, was held yesterday with Virgin Trains, whose franchise to run the West Coast route comes up for renewal (or otherwise) next year.

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Peripatetic cabinet minister Mr Paterson was clocking up the miles in North America last week with visits to Chicago, New York and Washington.

He spent St Patrick’s Day in Washington at a lunch hosted by John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives, whose chief-of-staff, Barry Jackson, is an old chum of the Northern Ireland Secretary.

Then it was back to London on Friday to be in his place on the Government front bench for David Cameron’s Commons statement on Libya.

Cheltenham was the next target, in time Mr Paterson hoped, to catch the Gold Cup.

“I nearly made it, but in the end had to listen to the race in the car park on the car radio,” said Mr Paterson. Probably saved him a pound or two.

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Former Shropshire councillor and parliamentary candidate Albie Fox was quick off the mark this week in noting Budget changes to Gift Aid tax relief which will reduce by 3p in the pound from April 1.

Squadron Leader Fox, now RAF community relations officer for Wales, will be running in the London Marathon on April 17 to raise money for the Ty Gobaith and Wales air ambulance charities.

“The change might not seem much but can make a big difference to the overall final total I raise. Why let the taxman keep it?” he said.