LONDON – After being elected in a landslide last year, Britain’s Labour Party government delivered a budget it billed as a one-off dose of tax hikes to fix the public finances, get debt down, ease the cost of living and spur economic growth.

A year on, inflation remains stubbornly high, government borrowing is up and the economy is turgid. The annual budget, due on Wednesday, is expected to bring more tax hikes in pursuit of the same elusive economic boom.

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Rain Newton-Smith, head of business group the Confederation of British Industry, said Monday that “it feels less like we’re on the move, and more like we’re stuck in ‘Groundhog Day.’”

It’s not just businesses who are concerned. Alarmed by the government’s consistently dire poll ratings, some Labour lawmakers a

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