It is normal for a new government to raise taxes in its first year. The old regime can be blamed for leaving a fiscal gap and there is time before the next election for resentment of the higher bill to fade.
Rachel Reeves is not the first chancellor to base her first budget on such a gamble. Nor will she be the first Labour politician to be accused by Conservatives of suffocating enterprise with ill-targeted levies. It is a ritual chant and especially hollow coming from the party that is responsible for the current abject state of public finances and public services.
