This week, Rachel Reeves delivered her second Budget as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and, despite the media speculation leading up to it, the Budget seemed to go down well...with her backbenchers at least.

From the viewpoint of the Liberal Democrat benches in the Commons, however, it was an example of a Government diagnosing the disease – but not administering a cure. The single biggest thing that Rachel Reeves could have done to improve our economic situation, to find the growth that she apparently so desperately seeks, would have been to fix our broken relationship with Europe. This country faces a £90-billion Brexit black hole (as per House of Commons and National Bureau of Economic Research figures), and even though Ministers are now openly saying Brexit is a factor, they won’t budge on a move which would help the British economy.

The Chancellor also decided to hit 10-million people with a stealth tax hike – at cost of an extra £13-billion in the pockets of taxpayers across the country – by extending the tax threshold freeze for another three years. OBR forecasts show that taxpayers will be paying an extra £67-billion in additional taxation in 2029/30 because of freezing the thresholds, which began under the Conservative government, and continues now under Labour. This measure is part of the reason why taxes are rising to a record high under this Chancellor.

There were some positive signs in the Budget, however, as the Chancellor finally listened to my party’s calls on the two- child benefit cap. Lifting the pernicious cap on child benefit is a giant step towards lifting children out of poverty, with 450,000 children estimated to be taken out of poverty by this proposal by 2029/30. In a society which believes in equality of opportunity, this move starts to realise that meritocratic ambition. Under the cap, I don’t believe we could have called ourselves an equal opportunity society, when the circumstances of children were being affected by Government policy, all over a decision in which they had no part: being born.

There was also movement on SEND provision, with the government announcing that from 2028/29, the full cost of SEND provision would be drawn from departmental budgets. This is good news for councils across the country, but I am concerned that there are no savings identified in the Budget to account for the £6-billion of costs that this move will create. We need a stable footing for SEND, not a situation where Departments are left robbing Peter to pay Paul, cutting costs elsewhere – perhaps even in the Education Department, which already faces a real-terms cut by 2028/29 – to fund a broken model.

I was disappointed not to read anything in the Budget which mentioned Somerset Council, or Devon County Council, areas. The government went to great lengths to talk about the West of England Combined Authority and Cornwall, but I can’t help feeling like we’ve been left out once again. This is yet another Budget leaving out rural and coastal communities, and threatening hospitality and tourism too.