You can hear the spin a mile away; as the Chancellor’s team prepares for the Spring Statement the groundwork is being laid.

Despite the fact that the inevitable consequences of the government’s multi-billion pound tax raid on businesses have been clear for months, with economic growth suffocated, sources close to the Chancellor are telling the media that “the world has changed.”

In other words, anything unpleasant that Reeves has to announce at the end of this month is a result of unforeseeable geopolitical developments. It’s a convenient line, and we won’t dismiss it entirely, but let’s just recap on the situation we find ourselves in.

We now have

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