Will this make a difference in three years? That's the test

At the final political cabinet meeting before Rachel Reeves delivered her first budget this week, ministers were presented with internal party research on what the public was expecting.

- Pippa Crerar

In the months since the general election, they had been fed a regular diet of gloomy warnings about the state of the economic inheritance and, more recently, high levels of pre-budget news coverage, so it was firmly on their horizon.

But the public's grasp of what the chancellor might announce was limited, the cabinet was told. "People were prepared for the budget to be awful. They thought they'd be hit by every tax," said one of those present.

"We hope afterwards they'll say 'well, that wasn't as bad as we thought it might be'."

"But that won't crystallise straight away. Voters are very cynical. They need to see tangible change in their public services and to feel better off." What no one could miss was the scale of the budget, with record £40bn tax rises, borrowing soaring by about £20bn and spending going up by almost £70bn a year as Reeves sought to reverse more than a decade of decline.