There’s an old saying about British politics: Tory scandals are about sex, Labour scandals are about money. The taboo around rumpy pumpy created a conservative class notoriously dedicated to lewdicious kink. The true believers’ suspicion of the filthy lucre pushed social democrats to accumulate funds covertly.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is a shining example of the British Labour tradition. But there’s no wiggle room left in the UK for budgetary subtlety. In 2024, she introduced the largest tax rises since 1993. Her second budget, which has just landed, is a stealth wannabe. Income tax brackets have been frozen, and salary sacrificing into individual pension savings will be capped at £2000 ($4050) a year, measures not immediately visible to the broader population. But £26 billion in tax rises is difficult to hide. Britain’s workers are being bled to fund the burgeoning welfare state. In a soundbite bound to haunt UK Labour at the next election, Reeves made bad worse by saying she’s just asking “ordinary people to pay a little bit more”.

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (right) with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London in May.Credit: AP

Reeves sat awkward and flushed next to her prime minister after the budget was read, her body language suggesting Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s savage reply had found a target. The budget is “for benefit street, paid for by working people”, Badenoch claimed, and a “humiliation” for the chancellor.

The Office for Budget Responsibility warned that the financial situation leaves Britain vulnerable to unforeseen events, such as the global financial crisis or another pandemic. Rising welfare........

© The Sydney Morning Herald