'Invest, invest, invest' is the Budget pledge from Reeves

Rachel Reeves will today unveil her historic Budget – the first by a Labour chancellor in 14 years – with a message of hope for the UK as she pledges to deliver economic growth and put money back in people’s pockets with a rise in the national minimum wage.

- DAVID MADDOX

In what is expected to be a Budget of record-breaking tax rises involving “tough choices” to “fix public services”, Ms Reeves will hold out some hope with a rallying cry that she intends to “invest, invest, invest” to turn the country around.

The rhetoric appears to deliberately echo Tony Blair’s three priorities of “education, education, education” ahead of the 1997 election as Ms Reeves attempts to grasp the optimism of his New Labour government in what is widely expected to be a gloomy Budget.

The first female chancellor in the position’s 803-year history will tell the country her “belief in Britain burns brighter than ever” and while she will be making some difficult decisions “the prize on offer to today is immense”.

However, her Budget comes amid growing warnings of the impact of some of the measures which have already been revealed:

• Trade union leaders have told her that if she is genuine about an end to austerity, she will have to fund massive public sector pay rises in the new year

• The hospitality industry has warned that a 6.7 per cent hike in the minimum wage will leave the sector as “collateral damage”