Income tax threshold freezes are a de facto tax rise but the revenue won’t be fully realised until the end of the parliament. She should adjust rates now while there’s still time to improve public services before the next election? And fix distortive cliff edges while she’s at it, says Will Cooling

Rachel Reeves has lost all control over the nation’s finances.

For all her talk of tough decisions, she has repeatedly taken the easy way out and as a result has had to return to the well for public spending and welfare cuts. For all her promises to be fiscally responsible, she has given herself no leeway. Above all, Reeves is trying to dig her way out of a hole she dug herself back with her first budget. Scrambling to find a tax she could increase without breaking the letter of her party’s manifesto commitments, she settled on increasing employer rather than employee National Insurance Contributions. This........

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