This government’s efforts to keep a tight lid on the details of Wednesday’s Budget has succeeded in creating a sense of calm. But does the chancellor realise that the storm is already here?

Living standards are falling. The lack of real wage growth since 2008 has collided with three global events which have pushed up inflation: supply chain issues following the Covid-19 pandemic, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and Trumps’ attacks on Iran. Purchases that we once took for granted are becoming unaffordable for a growing number of people. According to the Resolution Foundation this has resulted in a kind of economic lurch: the equivalent of 13 years of “normal” price rises in just five.

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