In the audience for Sir Keir Starmer’s speech today in the West Midlands was our Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor.

He asked the Prime Minister if there would be more tax increases in future budgets.

Sam says he did this because there are still many areas of the public finances where money is needed that don’t appear to be addressed on Wednesday.

“I’m thinking in particular of social services, for which they have already withdrawn millions of dollars from the budget, which they want to reform and which they will probably have to reinvest billions,” he explains.

“They just can’t say there won’t be a need to raise taxes for this at this point.”

He claims the Budget will be a “difficult moment” politically for Sir Keir and the Chancellor – but they are doing it now having just come out of an election.

What comes next?

Sam says one of the biggest benefits of the budget is that it will allow the conversation to move to the next stage of governance.

Once the financial plans are announced, “we will know the color of this government’s money.”

Sam says: “They will have had to make a lot of concrete decisions, decisions that they haven’t really made until now.

“So ministers, ministers, the chancellor, the prime minister will have a lot to say after Wednesday that we haven’t heard before.”