Chancellor puts a positive spin on it

RACHEL Reeves made some bold spending commitments yesterday in a Budget statement that contained many positives.

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All Chancellors expect a tough time from opposition parties but few have faced such a barrage of personal attacks as the current occupant of 11 Downing Street.

Reeves was savaged for suggesting there may be a need to raise the basic rate of income tax to protect public services. But in the end the Chancellor didn’t need to do that at all.

Despite the severe economic headwinds facing the UK and other major European economies in the second Trump era, Reeves managed to find a balanced way of finally scrapping the hated two-child cap on benefits.

It’s a policy Labour should have committed to ending before the 2024 general election. But as antipoverty campaigners will freely admit, it’s better late than never.