What we have seen today is unprecedented. The entire list of Budget measures announced by Rachel Reeves – along with their costings and economic impacts – were leaked by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) an hour before the Chancellor took to her feet. The OBR apologised and called it a ‘technical error’ but make no mistake: this is perhaps the biggest scandal in Britain’s Budget history.

The headlines from the Budget are:

Reeves will hike taxes by a total of £26 billion.

Income tax thresholds will be frozen again, raising £8 billion and dragging nearly one million more people into paying tax.

The tax burden will hit a record high at 38 per cent of GDP.

The minimum wage for adults will rise to £12.71.

Real GDP is forecast to grow by 1.5 per cent on average over the forecast p

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