Rachel Reeves’ Budget felt like a very big one indeed, with a major call in hiking employers’ national insurance contributions by £25 billion a year.

The Chancellor highlighted Labour’s focus on the economy and investment, as she delivered large rises in spending and increased borrowing.

And the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser of Allander Institute highlighted a “really significant uplift” in spending for Scotland, through the Barnett formula, as a result of the Budget measures. It said this was “likely to make the Scottish Government’s job of balancing its budget significantly easier”.

The growth forecasts for the UK for 2024 and 2025 were moved up by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility taking into account the Chancellor’s measures. However, the projections for the following three years are all lower than what were already uninspiring predicted rates at the time of the March Budget.

We have had a flurry of Budgets and other fiscal events in recent years amid much political volatility and upheaval but this one stood out - with the Chancellor highlighting early in her speech that Labour’s measures would increase taxes by £40bn annually.

Financial markets took Ms Reeves’ Budget in their stride. This was in stark contrast to the mayhem which ensued in the wake of the “mini-Budget” from former Conservative chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in autumn 2022 during Liz Truss’s brief spell as prime minister.

While the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions accounted for the bulk of the £40bn tax hike, a huge increase by the standard of Budgets past, Ms Reeves also raised capital gains tax to bring in around an extra £2.5bn a year. And she moved to increase the inheritance tax take substantially.

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The Chancellor also delivered the anticipated rise in the energy........

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