Voters brace for tax hikes as Rachel Reeves embarks on spending spree

Voters were last night braced for swingeing tax rises, after Rachel Reeves embarked on an unprecedented spending spree.

In a return to Labour’s tax-and-spend approach, the Chancellor set out plans to ‘invest’ a staggering £4 trillion to fund ‘the renewal of Britain’.

She said the plans, which include another huge dollop of cash for the NHS, would end the ‘destructive’ austerity of the last government and boost economic growth.

Labour strategists hope the costly gamble will pay off by cutting hospital waiting lists, improving the creaking infrastructure and pump-priming the economy.

But experts warned the scale of the spending, coupled with the deteriorating public finances, will pave the way for another round of damaging tax rises this autumn. The Conservatives accused Ms Reeves of adopting a reckless ‘spend now, tax later’ approach.