In the week running up to the government’s Autumn Budget, Westminster was awash with rumours about the potential measures the chancellor may take to start the task of turning the country around.
Typically, the contents of the Budget are tightly guarded, as many tax changes take effect immediately upon the minister’s speech.
Even the advance copy - customarily shared with opposition parties ahead of all ministerial statements to help MPs plan their responses - is so heavily redacted for the Budget as to make it meaningless.
However, this year has seen several deliberate leaks.
Why? Well, the Labour government might feel haunted by the Conservative’s disastrous “mini budget”, when the sudden announcement of a staggering £45 billion of unfunded tax cuts spooked the markets and sent mortgage rates spiralling.
It’s possible too that they feel chastened by their own misstep on the ill-thought through cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance a few weeks ago, which has prompted a backlash from Age UK and others about the two million pensioners living in poverty who will lose out.
Either way, it seemed to me this week that the government has been ‘rolling the pitch’ so people are prepared for what’s coming, and perhaps so they - the government - are braced for the public’s reaction.
One thing the government has trailed heavily is that it wants to borrow a lot more money - tens of billions - to invest in fixing the country’s crumbling infrastructure.
What isn’t clear is how much they want to borrow, or what they want to invest it in.
They also want to raise some taxes to pay for more spending on public services, but again, it’s not clear who will pick up the tab.
We Liberal Democrats want this Budget to be a Budget for the NHS and care.
We believe that the burden of paying for it shouldn’t fall on families, small businesses, or the pension pots of hard-working people.
Instead, it should be funded fairly by reversing the Conservatives' tax cuts to the big banks, closing loopholes exploited by oil and gas giants, and making sure big tech companies pay their share of tax.
The government’s first 100 days have been pretty bumpy, but given how broken everything feels, I’m willing them to succeed.
The Budget needs to be a turning point - for all our sakes.
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