Rachael Hamilton

DEPUTY LEADER OF THE SCOTTISH CONSERVATIVES

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THE fact that Rachael Reeves wouldn't rule out tax rises in her pre-budget speech on Tuesday tells you all you need to know. We're going to get tax rises. Judging by the dire state of public finances, eye-wateringly painful ones.

That's terrible news for households struggling with high taxes and rising household bills, but it shouldn't come as a surprise. Labour have already broken several of their manifesto pledges, so the fact that the Chancellor looks set to raise income tax rates isn't an unexpected betrayal.

But it was also predictable because of this Labour government's spectacular mismanagement of the economy. We've had a string of broken promises, U-turns and shambolic decisions.

They stalled growth and stopped businesses from recruiting with the national insurance tax hike in their last budget. Productivity has fallen so much it's added an estimated £21billion to the black hole in public finances. Their energy profits levy has given the UK the world's highest industrial energy costs, while household bills are also sky high. That's driven up the price of almost everything, from food to technology, and made it difficult for British firms to compete.