Ahead of Labour's first budget, the debate over what was in it, became quite farcical, focusing on the definition of a "working person", since Labour promised that “working people” would not face tax increases.

    BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg joined the weeping chorus of those shedding tears over small businesses which might have to pay more tax and thus face bankruptcy! She asked Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson whether such entrepreneurs were not "working people" after all, and should thus be exempt?

   For a growing number of real workers, however, the problem is not their tax bill, but how to make ends meet because of low wages, precarious work and the fact that there aren’t enough hours in the day and night to work, sleep and live...

   Indeed, casual and low-paid jobs have become the norm: out of the total workforce today, 25% are part-time; 13% are self-employed; 10% are temps or agency workers and over 3% are on zero-hours contracts. And it remains to be seen which “exploitative” zero-hours contracts will be banned under Labour’s new Employment Rights law!

   As for the "self-employed", of the 4.3m who are supposedly their "own bosses", a quarter live under the poverty line! But nevertheless, they must pay special National Insurance Contributions out of their pittance wages. This includes Deliveroo drivers, who last year lost their Supreme Court case to be categorised as the employees they clearly are, as well as many construction workers. It would surely be a travesty if they have their taxes increased?

   However what's most striking about this budget is that the one source of potential public funds which Reeves is not only not touching, but in fact freezing at its all-time low level, is the tax on company profits!