Rachel Reeves bets on public spending increases in budget winning over voters

Rachel Reeves told businesses and the better off that they need to bear the brunt of the £40bn of tax increases. Photograph: Tejas Sandhu/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock

Rachel Reeves used her budget debut to announce a massive package of tax, spending and borrowing increases as she gambled on voters rewarding the government for patching up Britain’s crumbling public services.

Insisting that she was delivering on the choices the public made in July’s general election, the chancellor told businesses and the better off that they must bear the brunt of £40bn of tax increases needed for an emergency NHS cash injection and to plug the hole in the public finances inherited from the Conservatives.