By James Ford

Well, the wait is finally over. After months of speculation, pre-briefing, kite flying, pitch rolling and seemingly endless rumours, the Budget has been delivered.

Indeed, thanks to someone at the OBR clicking ‘send’ prematurely and releasing the full contents of the Chancellor’s red box before she had even stood up in the Commons, there were no real surprises in this fiscal statement.

Yet, one message should have come through loud and clear from the budget: Rachel Reeves doesn’t like London much.

This Budget clobbered the capital and lumbered Londoners with a higher fiscal burden. Because London salaries and house prices are higher than the national average, a significant - indeed, disproportionate - amount of the extra £26billion of taxes that this Budget raises will come from Londoners.

Fiscal drag – the inevitable result of freezing tax thresholds – will trap many working Londoners in higher tax bands than they might have expected and, with the freeze now due to last until 2031, they will be paying those higher taxes into the middle of the next Parliament.

The Evening Standard has estimated that 150,000 Londoners will be dragged into 40% tax band over the next two years alone, with a further 110,000 citizens of the capital dragged into the same rate over the first two years of Rachel Reeves’ extended threshold freeze. The Treasury’s new assault on salary........

© LBC