Reeves aims to prepare voters and markets for possible budget tax rises

Speech attempts to take back narrative with talk of years of economic mismanagement', Brexit and tariffs

• Reeves avoids ruling out tax rises as autumn budget looms

There were two audiences for Rachel Reeves's hastily arranged early morning speech on Tuesday: the financial markets, and Labour's disillusioned voters.

As she made clear, though only obliquely, Keir Starmer's government was considering abandoning its pre-election pledge not to raise income tax, backed into a corner by dire forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). No chancellor has raised the basic rate since Labour's Denis Healey in 1975.