Rachel Reeves may have killed off growth with her raid on employers' National Insurance contributions, but today comes a reminder that she is nevertheless the relatively mild face of the Starmer government. We can at least be thankful that Angela Rayner is not Chancellor. Labour's deputy leader has written a memo to Reeves suggesting a number of taxes she would like to see increased, and which she believes - somewhat hopefully - would obviate the need for spending cuts at the next Budget.

She wants inheritance tax relief on Alternative Investment Market (AIM)-listed shares to be removed altogether (Reeves has merely halved it). She wants the reimposition of a lifetime cap on how much anyone could accumulate in a pension fund before being whacked with a punitive tax - something which Jeremy Hunt abolished and Keir Starmer at first said he would reintroduce, before dropping the idea ahead of the general election.