Rachel Reeves likes to insist that she will “never play fast and loose with the public finances.” It’s a phrase she deploys quite often, not least when it looks as if the bond market could do with a bit of reassurance, and it means that she won’t breach her “cast iron” fiscal rules.

Adherence to those rules about borrowing, debt and expenditure is important, but it’s not as simple as just declaring that “the numbers will add up.” What really matters is how they add up, and it’s becoming painfully clear that tax rises will account for the bulk of the Chancellor’s equation.

A generous reading of the........

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