Change. That’s what Keir Starmer promised, isn’t it? In white letters against a bright red background, on the cover of his election manifesto, and in speech after speech. Yesterday’s budget was his once-in-a-government chance to show voters what he means by that, a heavy load borne by Rachel Reeves. Not only will she set the government’s direction for the next five years; she has to refresh an administration not even four months old but already flagging under petty scandal, office politics and dwindling popularity.

Her budget does deliver some welcome change, but it is no gamechanger. It stops our hospitals and schools from collapsing, but the sums for local councils and other less-loved public services will not be enough to help them rebuild. It taxes wealth a little more, but not enough to upset big asset owners. It certainly does not reset the relationship between how wealth and work is taxed, as Starmer and Reeves were promising until quite recently.

The best news is the extra money; most of the bad news is how some of it will be raised. Billions will be pumped into the NHS and schools, and fast. Day to day spending for public services over the next couple of years will shoot up. After that, the investment tails off – so much so that Reeves seems to be leaving herself room for another cash injection around 2027. In January, my colleague Denis Campbell reported that Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow, Essex, had suffered 40 leaks of raw sewage in recent years, which left staff “nauseous and too sick to work”. That is the scale of the repair job to be done in just........

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