Amidst market uncertainty caused by her delayed and vague budget “context” speech, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is now expected to introduce a raft of significant tax increases on income, property, and businesses to address a national debt she helped exacerbate, says Jamila Robertson

This week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a speech to set the context for her upcoming budget, which sent the FTSE tumbling by 57 points and the pound falling to a seven-month low.

Reeves’ upcoming Budget is a can she kicked down the road back in September, when 30-year gilts had reached their highest level since 1998.

In her speech, 370 days after her last budget and a mind-boggling three weeks before her next, the Chancellor acknowledged that the delay had generated a lot of speculation. She thought the best way to contain it would be to provide “context” not clarity, about the taxes she would raise and whether she would maintain her party‘s manifesto pledge not to raise income tax.

Instead of reflecting on the impact of her last budget, one that increased employers National Insurance Contributions (NICs), lowered the NICs threshold,........

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