Blue on blue sniping in the Commons earlier today, as Tory grandee Sir Edward Leigh joined forces with Rachel Reeves to hammer Rishi over his tax hikes. Albeit doing a better job than Reeves herself…

“…The fact remains that Conservative governments that increase taxation during recession, like the first George Bush, or John Major, go down to defeat. And more importantly, millions of families are now desperately worried about how they’re going to pay their bill. So what I’d like the Chancellor now to do is to say his absolute priority, coming up to the budget, is to reduce the overall tax burden on working families.”

Rishi responded with the usual soundbites about tinkering with the Universal Credit taper rate and raising the National Insurance Primary Threshold. Not much on how he’s freezing the income tax brackets as inflation pummels wages. At least he’s promising a 1% income tax cut in two years…