Rachel Reeves is taking us back to the 1970s

The first fiscal event to be delivered by a female Chancellor of the Exchequer is a landmark moment, but in every other regard this Budget was a return to the familiar, and failed, approach of Labour governments past. This was the Life on Mars Budget – a journey back to the 1970s, only without the cheap booze and fags. Tax rises, increased borrowing, a bigger state, spending on public services unaccompanied by meaningful reform and additional costs for those businesses which create wealth – we have seen all these before and we know they are the markers of decline.

Before the election there were signs that Labour’s leadership understood the need for a different approach. In a speech to the Resolution Foundation in December last year, Keir Starmer declared: ‘Anyone who expects an incoming Labour government to quickly turn on the spending taps is going to be disappointed.’