REFINING: Exxon to Wind Down a Singapore Steam Cracker from March

One possible reason for the timing of Rachel Reeves' speech today is that there is a Treasury update due in the Commons today and Reeves may have wanted to control the narrative more by addressing these questions now without the opposition muddying the picture.

This repeated line from Chancellor Reeves about the national interest being more important than political gain is also important here. And talking about "honest choices" also seems to suggest large tax rises are coming. But again nothing specific on which taxes in here.

• Something that is possibly a little more fuzzy than expected is Reeves refusing to rule out tax increases on working people.
• There has been lots of coverage of the specific tax pledges (income tax, NIC, VAT) but refusing to rule out the increases on working people does seem to slightly further increase the prospect of income tax increases at basic rate (rather than just higher rate / threshold-based).