Middle-class millennials will pay for Reeves's Budget – but they can't afford it

The Chancellor wants everyone to do their bit for Britain. But what became clear as Rachel Reeves delivered her second Budget to MPs and the country was that people stuck in the middle will foot the bill: millennial, middle-class, middle-aged, middle earners are being asked to contribute rather a lot more than everyone else.

From the long-awaited and much-needed end of the two-child limit (costing £3bn a year by 2029) to the fact that the triple lock on pensions (due to cost £1.4bn more a year by 2029) is going absolutely nowhere, Reeves is looking to working age adults – the very same generation who have been hammered by expensive housing, expensive childcare, student loans and relatively stagnant wages since 2008 – to pay for her Budget.

Credit where it’s due. Today, Reeves managed