If Reeves really cared about the less well off, she would understand they can only be protected with an affluent and stable society, writes Ewen Stewart

On Wednesday Rachael Reeves delivers her second Budget. Last time she promised her substantial tax rises she said it would be the last. Unsurprisingly she is back for more and the reasons are entirely self-inflicted.

I wrote in September that the UK public finances were in an unsustainable state. Since then, it has become even worse with a further increase in borrowing of £17.4bn in October alone.

This is entirely self-inflicted because Reeves has killed growth, taxing employment and profits ever more highly while continuing to increase public spending in a totally unproductive fashion. GDP growth this decade per head has been negligible as a result of strangling the private sector to lavish funds on a highly inefficient public sector, and with that tax receipts have predictably not risen as expected.

We clearly don’t know what Reeves will do on Wednesday but it seems almost certain she will be back for........

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