Hateful attacks on pensioners. A bashing for business. This Budget will be a vengeful horror show, says JEFF PRESTRIDGE

Almost three months have passed since Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves stood up in the House of Commons and said the winter fuel payment should be means-tested for the greater financial well-being of the country.

What utter nonsense. It was nothing more than a hateful attack on retirees that will forever tarnish her record in public service.

Since then, Reeves has largely kept a low profile, ignoring genuine calls for a reversal while allowing her Treasury Department officials to perpetuate the view that Wednesday’s budget will be the most brutal in living memory.

Around £35 billion in extra taxes are coming our way like a financial tornado. These taxes will make it much harder for households to accumulate wealth – and then access it or leave some of it to loved ones. Tax attacks on our pensions, stock portfolios and our right to make donations (thereby easing inheritance tax burdens) are all likely. And much more.

The raid will also cover taxes on corporations, the lifeblood of our economy. Some of these taxes – most notably a national insurance levy on the contributions employers make to their employees’ pension funds – will be both deeply damaging and divisive.

The Budget becomes a horror show of Frankenstein proportions

Division arises as public sector employers are exempted from this tax, protecting their employees’ gold-plated pensions. Harmful for those of us who work in the private sector, because bosses may respond to the increase by cutting back on the generosity of our pension schemes.

The Budget becomes a horror show of Frankenstein proportions. For those of you with delicate constitutions, I advise you not to watch it. Instead, read Money Mail’s forensic investigation into all its gory details on Thursday and a few days after. And, of course, absorb what Wealth and Personal Finance has to say this time next week.

We will do our utmost to help you soften the impact of what Reeves presents to you.

Will vinyl get WHSmith on track?

WHSmith is a chameleon of a brand. High street branches look tired and even exhausted compared to the glitzy must-go-to shops at British airports.

But perhaps the return of vinyl to some stores in our battered city centers will act as a catalyst for an overall revival of the retailer’s brand. I hope so.

For much of the late 1970s and 1980s I couldn’t walk past a WHSmith (or a Woolworths for that matter) without a good feeling in the vinyl department. Invariably, I walked out with at least one LP to add to my collection.

Even though I then joined the CD brigade, I clung to my vinyl.

For much of the late 1970s and 1980s I couldn’t walk past a WHSmith (or a Woolworths for that matter) without a good chat in the vinyl department.

I even stole some of my parents’ LPs that were quickly gathering dust in the phonograph cabinet – like the soundtrack to the 1958 film South Pacific, starring Mitzi Gaynor and the non-singing Rossano Brazzi. An enchanted evening still gives me goosebumps.

Like many music lovers, I’ve returned to vinyl in recent years, supplementing South Pacific, Blondie’s Parallel Lines and Joe Jackson’s Look Sharp with Nick Cave’s Wild God and a remastered version of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel’s The Best Years of Our Lives.

I trust WHSmith will choose its Wokingham branch as one of the 80 stores stocking vinyl.

If so, it will be my favorite Saturday venue – sandwiched between the obligatory parkrun (more of a parkwalk these days) and the train journey to watch West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.

Wokingham’s high streets have suffered in recent years as a number of major brands have given up the ghost (M&S) and most major banks (Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander) have closed their branches.

Of the banks, only HSBC, Nationwide, Newbury Building Society and a post office remain.

Of the banks, only HSBC, Nationwide, Newbury Building Society and a post office remain

Although the NatWest branch has been converted into apartments and the old Santander building is now home to a fairly modern physiotherapist practice, the Barclays and Lloyds branches remain empty – and are spots on the high street.

In Barclays’ defense, it now operates a part-time ‘local’ facility in the town’s community centre, although it does not offer banking services.

Recently, officials from ATM operator Link visited my home town in Berkshire to listen to those who think the presence of a banking center would provide a boost.

Currently, the rules for hubs (community banks funded by the big banks through an organization called Cash Access UK) are tightly drawn. Although Link makes the final recommendation, it is the banks that determine the criteria on which it should be based.

Sadly, there’s no chance of Wokingham getting one. For a hub to gain Link’s approval, all banks in the city must be closed – or notified of closure. As HSBC has already committed to keeping all its branches open until 2026, Wokingham is immediately excluded.

Of course, the rules could change – they’ve already been amended to allow hubs in some cities where Nationwide has a presence. But I am sure that Wokingham’s high street, dominated by a collection of fine independent traders, would be all the richer for the presence of a junction.

Although financial markets are getting nervous about Reeves’ budget and the big spending plans she has in mind to kick-start the economy, this hasn’t stopped Goldman Sachs from taking a positive view of the direction of UK interest rates. She believes the Bank of England will have cut this from the current 5 percent to 2.75 percent by November next year.

Although the financial markets are getting nervous about Rachel Reeves’ budget (pictured) and the big spending plans she has in mind to kick-start the economy, this has not stopped Goldman Sachs from having a positive view on the share price British interest rates.

Of course, with inflation down to 1.7 percent, there is every possibility that interest rates are now on a downward trajectory. But there are far too many potential problems to believe that the base rate for banks will be 2.75 percent this time next year.

The hiccups include rising oil prices, heightened geopolitical tensions and breaks in the global supply chain. Add to that, of course, the growing realization that Reeves’ high-tax, high-spending budget is nothing but bad news.

If interest rates are 2.75 percent this time next year, I’ll eat my hat. I will also be putting my hand in my pocket and donating £275 to the charity Prostate Cancer UK.