The budget on Wednesday.

There has been endless speculation about the contents of the budget on Wednesday. It’s one of the biggest political events of the political calendar, but this year it has more salience as it’s the first one by a Labour government for 14 years. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor has a difficult job to do. The financial mess created by the last Conservative government has made - balancing the books problematic. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)has set out the numbers for the chancellor. The touchstone of the overall policy is - growth. This is the sine qua non for all decisions. The government will be judged by this benchmark alone. Have they laid an ‘elephant trap’ for themselves? Jeremy Hunt, the previous chancellor has said the last administration, didn’t leave ‘such a mess’ and objects to the claims made by Reeves. Nevertheless on Wednesday we shall see how bad it really is.