Much rests on Labour’s second budget, possibly including the jobs of the Chancellor and the Prime Minister. Will it help shore up flagging Labour fortunes in Scotland with an election round the corner? That depends on your priorities, says Herald columnist Rebecca McQuillan

Chancellors are pulled in all directions, but must eventually make a choice. Rachel Reeves’ choice was to create a distinctively Labour budget – one that, while not meeting all backbench demands, no Tory chancellor would have put their pen to. Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has called it something of a traditional tax and spend budget: the much-trailed tax rises are not just funding the build-up of a financial buffer for the government – so-called fiscal headroom – which was expected, but an overall increase in spending.

Two spending measures stood out: abolishing the two-child benefit cap; and increasing the minimum wage, with the biggest increase for 18-20-year-olds. These are to be paid for by a number of tax rises, including extending the freeze on tax and national insurance thresholds in the rest of the UK (Scotland sets its own tax rates and thresholds, above the personal allowance).

In England, there will also be a “mansion tax”, a council tax surcharge on properties worth over £2m, partly in response to calls on the left for a ballsy wealth tax. But will this left-leaning package help quell Labour jitters in Scotland, with a Holyrood election looming?

Read more Budget analysis

The Scottish Parliament election will be the most momentous of three sets of polls in May, along with the Welsh assembly and English local elections. The future of Keir Starmer’s leadership could be decided by the results.........

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