When a government refuses to rule out breaking an election pledge you know they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. At this stage saying this is an outright admission that breaking the pledge is already been planned.
Stating that “the world has changed” will not do. The world is always changing and most of the problems were known about before the last election. The previous budget introduced huge tax rises on the basis that it was a “one-off” but that will now be seen as a government-defining fib. They will be stained as a party who will whack up taxes at every opportunity.
The attempt at softening-up by the drip-drip of possible tax targets with the delusion that people will be glad it will turn out not as bad as expected has simply crushed investment. Money people and organisations save because they might get smashed again like they were over school fees VAT and National Insurance is money that does not go towards growth. And those in charge are surprised at why things are statistical noise away from recession.
Reinforcing the narrative that Labour will come back for more again and again is there being no demonstrable ability to control costs. The underwriting of JLR by £1.5 billion was no surprise once the taps were opened for British Steel giving succuor to the idea Labour are back to the 1970s.