At last a Labour government has found itself a wealth tax – or thinks it has. Its proposed adjustment to council tax in England is crude and possibly cruel, and does nothing to help with Rachel Reeves’s “missing £40bn”. It is designed merely to shift money from rich regions to poor ones, and thus correct an imbalance in Britain’s regional wealth. As such it is overdue and welcome.
British budgetary policy used to be classy. It was top hats and secrets and standing room only in parliament. Now it comprises a scruffy marathon of leaks, squeaks and denials. Lobbies form, rebels threaten and ministers pledge and unpledge.
